Sorry, I don't think I'm getting the same results. Have you tried checking the bust's setting? Artist bust priority in the Options only works if the bust itself is set to "Default", otherwise, you might have overridden the default setting for that particular bust. (Clicking on the cogwheel icon on an NPC bust will allow you to edit the bust's override settings.)
As for the Christmas Anno scene, I think the intention was to drop the character off in the crew's "commons" area (as described in the scene). So I updated it to were it will move the character to the crew area, if it exists in the ship, otherwise, the character will remain in place.