An overworked crew will relax in any portion of the voyage they can, not just going home. I made a couple posts about this phenomena on the smaller scale of the bridge watch.
Karl Weick - An Analysis of the Tenerife Air Disaster
On ship with changes from high-tempo to lower tempo operations it’s something that can be observed and that a capt should be aware of.
Mariners that have called to Honolulu recall that at the entrance to the port there is a sea buoy and then three sets of buoys (IIRC). Once the ship gets through the buoys it is inside the breakwater. Next there is a short straight section and then a 90 degree turn.
The connection between the Weick article and Honolulu Port entrance is that a pilot there explained there was possibility of starting the 90 degree turn late. The reason was because after the difficulty of getting through the buoys (sometimes strong set to the west with wind and current) the pilot and the bridge crew would stop concentrating on the task because little attention was required on the straight section.
The error of the late turn would come because crews would slip into an almost daydream state.
Weick mentions the same phenomena with the KLM crew as they had to turn the 747 around on the narrow runway.
I was reminded of this article when I was reading about the Fitzgerald, the crew had also just completed some difficult tasks (exercises and then heavy traffic) and might have had a brief respite.