Time 2 Cruise

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....

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.