The Germans are invading!

Well maybe not quite; but it might not be long before you're eating bratwurst and sauerkraut on your cruise if recent comments from some industry leaders are to believed.
Those same said leaders believe Germany, by the end of this decade, may over take the UK as the second largest country for cruise bookings, just behind the USA.
At a recent I.T.B trade show in Berlin cruise industry big wigs were heard to say.......

Peter Shanks of Cunard - "There is large package holiday market in Germany that is ready to upgrade to the cruise experience. There is no question in my mind the country will overtake the UK to become the biggest cruise market in Europe. We trade on history, heritage and quality (at Cunard). We are very different to the US cruise model. We thought we might have to provide a German experience for the German market, but we find our German guests want a British experience. We are working hard with German travel agents who are highly experienced in a fast-growing market."

Larry Pimentel, President of Azamra Club Cruises said - "Germany will usurp the UK as the number-two cruise market in the world in no time."

And Dominic Paul, vice president of Royal Caribbean was heard to comment - "Cruising is a still a well-kept secret. The potential is high and the value for money depressingly good."

Now please don't get me wrong. I'm not racist or even very jingoistic when it comes to Britain, but I'm not sure how I feel about this news.  In fact I can't afford to be as I have a few German cousins who I'm sure will be over the moon with this news. But do you not think one of the great things about cruising is meeting new people over dinner or at the bar during the day and striking up a friendship?
As the situation stands most foreigners you meet on a cruise ship will, because they're in the minority, speak English so that there aren't any language barriers. However if cruising becomes the domain of the German package holiday it wont be long before there are scores of non-English speaking people onboard and one of the great aspects of cruising will have been lost.
I've cruised before on a foreign cruise ship, (MSC - Italian), and well remember trying to speak to people and them not having a clue what I'm talking about or vice versa.

What do you think? Will encouraging more foreign people onto traditionally English speaking ships be a good thing, lending a more international flavour to an already great cruise experience or will it forever change the cruising world for the worse?
Let me know your thoughts here...................

Happy cruising.

PS. No sunbed/towel jokes please