Haemar's Shame, good to go.
And I think that the people cracking on Vampirism are the same people who are severely lacking in creativity. If you simply stop and think through a situation, take into consideration all that your character can do, then you'll find that Vampirism gives you more Pro's than Con's.
I've had a solid Vampire character since the release, and I've never once thought about curing it. I have a second character that I repeatedly cure and get reinfected, just to see how quests run differently when I don't have the Vampy beef-ups affecting my stats.
Getting around the drawbacks that come with each subsequent Stage of Undeath are easy if you just take the time to stop and think about the current situation that you're in.
I mean, if I'm a Vampire, and I've been out in the field for a while, I'm almost guaranteed to be Stage 4. I'm not going to be stupid and just charge into a major settlement. I look for the outlying Farms and such, and find a nice comfy cave or other unoccupied place to wait in until around 1am. Then I go sneaky-sneaky into said Farm and feed to my unbeating hearts content.
Then, since I most likely have some business in a major city, I can now waltz right in with a cheery wave to the local constables, and no one is the wiser.
If someone does discover you at Stage 4, then you have some neat Vampy powers that will help you get out of it.
Seriously, you guys act like Vampirism is a death sentence (sorry about that. Had to.

) for your character, when in fact, if you take the time to develop even the most basic, rudimentary strategy, then you would realize that your character can be a naughty Vampire God if you should so choose.
it just requires a little bit of brain power, not just running in screaming "GROG SMASH!!!!" and hitting everything like a caveman.