Interestingly enough, I forget which author, claimed Titanic even began heading for Newfoundland before stopping, after the flooding worsened (perhaps due to the movement, there are conflicting testimonies about how the early pumping performed.)

But yes, the offloading of passengers would have been extremely risky; and only recommended if the ship were—for sure—going down, without a doubt, and that passengers would need to get off.

Today, lifeboats are more-or-less little boats you see on cruise ships, and are used now and then for shuttling passengers to resorts. No biggie, in those cases.