I would not change anything at all. I agree with Jessica. It's hard to put yourself in that time, and change something because we know the outcome.
For their time it was not only considered luxurious, but also safe. Personally, I love Andrews's design and I probably could not have made it any safer, considering I know nothing about shipbuilding.
And I have read the same thing about the binoculars. When they were doing the trial test, they used them. But the author then said the binoculars were locked in a locker and then either the person did not make it back onto the ship, or the key was lost. A simple mistake...it could have happened to anyone. These people were only human...So I don't think it's fair for us to criticize them. I don't know if I could handle it as well as they did.