How Much Planning Needed for a Vacation?

While everyone is different, I feel 99.999% of us put some planning into a vacation beyond what to pack but how much planning is enough?  For my wife and I it comes down to a few factors with length and location being the most obvious.  But what about others? Time of year, group size and age, lifestyle, and budget are all big as well. 

We are planning a 2013 trip to Ireland. Having been to England and Scotland in 2011 we have a good idea of length for us.  Most guide books break it down by whats there to see and their attention span.  Compared to them I put us in the speed category of vacationers but everyone is different (the way we like to vacation is why cruising is tops on our list). 

Adding to the planning phase for this trip is the size and varied ages ( 30s to 60s) of the group.  This is where we need to give ample extra time to planning. Not everyone in our group will think less than 2 hours is enough  time for a museum for example.  So we plan out multiple options, letting everyone (hopefully) get what they want.  Sometimes it means splitting the group up for a day.  When your traveling that close together for a week or better this can be a real good thing to do.

Not everyone always has the same budget when vacationing as a group.  This can require planning as well.  Hotels are expensive in Europe but furnished flats or houses can be a steal when sharing the expense with a group. (We estimate we more than cut the cost in half last year renting a flat in London over 2 hotel rooms for a week)

Lifestyle is tricky. Not just how nice a place someone expects either. I think of dietary habits as lifestyle whether by choice or necessity. We will have 2 vegetarians with us. So in picking our location we want to make sure we have something everyone can eat. Renting a house helps with that but we dont want to eat at home for every meal so we will be checking out nearby eateries online as well.

We are looking at a 9 day vacation better from a year from now, but given the complexities we have the planning starts now and will probably add up to as much if not more time than the vacation itself. By then we will need a vacation!

Cruise Stock - Is Now The Time To Buy

Stocks have rebounded some from the major lows they hit just a few years ago, but they are still down from their all time highs.  With the Costa accident that happened just a few months ago, it can be easy to assume that it has held the cruise industry back some from the rest of the stock market as well.  Companies like Carnival and Royal Caribbean have incentives for avid cruisers to hold stock which include on board credits of $50 or even $100 per cruise as long as you own 100 shares or more of their stock.  The amount does not go up if you own more and there are other stipulations, but if you cruise a lot, that on board credit could be a nice incentive.  But the question remains is it worth it?  100 shares of Carnival (which I do own shares of) would be around $3200.  Royal Caribbean as of today would be roughly $2800.  Its a lot of money but if someone cruises a lot (3 - 4 times a year or more) it could be worth it.

SHIPROCKED 2012!

Just a few weeks ago they announced who will be on Shiprocked this year and WOW is it awesome.  To find out who, you will just have to visit their site.  And the thing is, there could be more! If you have never been on a rock themed cruise and are into rock and roll, you don't know what you are missing.  We were on Shiprocked 2011 and had a blast.  Unfortunately for us, unless something changes, we wont be making it this year but will be on the lookout for the 2013 line-up to be released a year from now.

Like I said, last years cruise was a blast.  I can't think of anywhere else where you get to hang out with the bands like that.  When they were not on stage, they were in the casino, pool, bars and the other bands shows enjoying themselves as well.  My wife and I got to check out an up and coming band called The Voodoos while standing next to Richard Patrick of Filter.  I sat down at the craps and was joined by Josh Todd of BuckCherry.  And many of the cruisers went on excursions while in port with band members as well.  The sets were laid out really well and we partied like rock stars until 3 in the morning every night.  I think I am still catching up on my sleep from that. 

Cruising - Is Now The Time To Buy?

I don't know about everyone else but since recent events with Costa cruises I have seen an uptick in sales and promotional emails from all the major cruise lines. People are scared off but its mostly people that have never cruised before or only have been on one.  But for the rest of us who know better, now may be the time to not just buy but even time to work some upgrade magic.  Can't hurt to ask and with the price of fuel rising it wont be long before the cruise lines will be reinstating those pesky surcharges.

Renting a Flat in the U.K.

We recently returned from a 2 week stint in the U.K. where we spent one week in Edinburgh and one week in London.  There were 4 of us and when we did the math on 2 hotel rooms for 14 nights, the numbers got scary!  So we started to look at other options.  Hostels were an option but not something my mother in law was going to go for.  So we looked at renting furnished apartments and BINGO!  A 2 bedroom, 2 bath flat in Edinburgh was a little over $1000 for 7 days.  A standard hotel ran about  $150 a night and we required 2 rooms.  Talk about freeing up some vacation fundage!  Now London was a little more expensive, but so were the hotel rooms there.  So if you are planing a vacation for a group of 4 or more, I strongly suggest you check into renting a furnished apartment.