I, myself, am not that fussed one way or another re having "staff" on board my vessels.
Now when the land entity is implemented, that's where I'd like to see people. Perhaps not walking around the town as they do in Pirates of the Carribean or Sea Dogs, more so stationary figures in say, the hotel, the Post Office, the fuel depot etc where I can interact in a basic exchange.
There may be a quest orientated speach involved or it could be nothing, or perhaps the fuel depot won't speak to me until I reach a certain rank, whatever it is, I don't need to hear the voice (that would be good) but a text based conversation with a graphic AI would be good.