How Many Marketing E-mails Does One Person Need?

My wife and I are constantly thinking about possible vacations and I have ours planned for the next year. One of those vacations will be an Alaskan Cruise. I'm not sure if I should be sharing that as I already receive too many e-mails trying to help me plan that specific vacation. My fear is that announcing something on the Internet will only invite more e-mails.

I have been to Alaska several times in the summer and have a good idea of what to expect. For instance, I know that Alaska is a huge state and has many different experiences to offer. A week up there doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of what there is to see and do. The idea of doing a cruise allows us to see some of the coastal cities all in the same trip, which is why we are planning it.

Unfortunately I made the mistake of letting one of the major cruise lines know I am interested in doing a cruise. Now I am receiving 2 e-mails every day from the company. Is there any difference between the e-mail in the morning and the one in the afternoon? The content seems different but when you click on any of the links in the message, you end up at the same spot. I'm surprised that any marketing department in the world would think it acceptable to send that much e-mail. My wife has suggested that I simply unsubscribe from the company. That is what a sane person would do but I find it just as easy to delete all of those e-mails. My justification is that when I am ready to book the cruise, I'll have the list of specials right in front of me. The funny thing is that we know the cruise we want to take and it isn't from the cruise line sending me daily information.

The reality is that there needs to be a way to tell marketing people your threshold for e-mails. Some people may be interested in multiple e-mails a day while others may only want to see something once a month. There should also be an options for daily and weekly. People may start out interested in all of the specials but it won't take long for them to sour on your messages if you send too many.