well, he s a madman not a pirate, isn t he? - anyway, its not not cargo taking them to that level, its the other way round - its loosing it that lowers the level. so - a lvl 31 with VIPs on board must have been 31 when he got them - ( unless he beamed htem on board ) - or at least i think it is that way around.
when players pass the level 30 - they become cautious anyway. first time you can actually run into player hostilities - entertaining:D