It's easy (and legally advised) to have a waiver mentioning all the risks, while also totally downplaying them in your sales pitch and live communications that go on before such a thing gets signed.
Sure, but did they do that? I've seen plenty of reporting about the extensive and blunt waiver but nothing about them misleading passengers or, as you said, hand-waiving the risks away.
I'm pretty sure they did exactly that, seeing the way the owner talked about their "innovations" and blatant disregard for safety. James Cameron also alluded to that.
