TLCOhio

Appreciate the kind comments and nice wishes. After Delhi the past two days, today will be the REAL THING!! The historic Taj Mahal in Agra. Yesterday in Delhi was Humayun's Tomb from the 16th century. Very amazing setting and structure here in Delhi. But, our guide has already explained the background for this one as a resting place for a male ruler and how it was different than the lover offering as a monument to his wife in Agra. Things continue to looking on schedule for the Silver Moon reaching Mumbai early on the morning of the 14th. Any great India tips as we head to Agra, Jaipur and then Mumbai? Loving it ALL so far. Trying to stay healthy and safe. Glad I am not trying to drive here. That's a really "wild sports" on the highways of urban India. Tomorrow we will see how the highways and traffic are between two major cities. THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio Amazon River-Caribbean 2015 adventure live/blog starting in Barbados. Many visuals from this amazing river and Caribbean Islands (Dutch ABC's, St. Barts, Dominica, Grenada, San Juan, etc.). Now at 74,092 views: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2076101-live-amazon-river-caribbean-many-pix’s-terryohio/

YES, tomorrow will be the REAL THING!! The historic Taj Mahal in Agra. Will be there Thursday, Feb. 8 in the afternoon. Wonderful picture from seven years ago of Chris and you being there. Today in Delhi was Humayun's Tomb from the 16th century. Very amazing setting and structure here in Delhi. But, our guide has already explained the for this one as a resting place for a male ruler how it was different than the lover offering as a monument to his wife in Agra. Things continue to looking on schedule for the Silver Moon reaching Mumbai early on the morning of the 14th. Any other great India tips from J.P and/or others? Loving it ALL so far. Trying to stay healthy and safe. Glad I am not trying to drive here. That's a really "wild sports" on the highways of urban India. Tomorrow we will see how the highways are between major cities. THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio Amazon River-Caribbean 2015 adventure live/blog starting in Barbados. Many visuals from this amazing river and Caribbean Islands (Dutch ABC's, St. Barts, Dominica, Grenada, San Juan, etc.). Now at 74,092 views: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2076101-live-amazon-river-caribbean-many-pix’s-terryohio/

YES, we will be three nights at the Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai. BUT, don't know for sure if it will be at the historic 1903 building or the 1972 Tower. Here in Delhi, the Taj Mahal here has been spectacular in so many different ways. Great service, style and hospitality. THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Lots of great funnies and stimulation at the Cooler. Now starting our second day in India as we work our way to Mumbai and boarding the Silver Moon on Feb. 14 (hopefully) for our adventure to Sir Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. Now staying at the Taj Mahal Delhi hotel that is is very, very impressive in its quality, service, etc. Here below were are right near lively Old Delhi’s sprawling and hyper-busy market areas as we are shown at the largest Mosque in India. Can hold up to 100,000 worshipping here. Super nice weather, air quality decent and better this morning. It's a SUPER fascinating city!! For a sample of life in Old Delhi, here is a one visual from Street Food in action. Will start a live/blog after we board the Silver Moon. The staff (mostly) should be well rested after the twenty plus days without passengers circumnavigating all, way, way around Africa to reach India and our sailing. THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio Venice: Loving It & Why??!! Is one of your future desires or past favorites? See these many visual samples for its great history and architecture. This posting is now at 110,749 views. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1278226

YES, the Taj Mahal Delhi hotel is very, very impressive in quality, service, etc. Here below were are right near lively Old Delhi’s sprawling and hyper-busy market areas as we are shown at the largest Mosque in India. Can hold up to 100,000 worshipping here. Super nice weather, air quality decent and better this morning. It's a fascinating city!! Sorry about the various OBC questions/issues. Will inquire more after we get on the ship in Mumbai after the 14th. For a sample of life in Old Delhi, here is a one visual from Street Food in action. THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio Venice: Loving It & Why??!! Is one of your future desires or past favorites? See these many visual samples for its great history and architecture. This posting is now at 110,749 views. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1278226

Appreciate the nice best wishes from Spings. Arrived in India!! Good that our JFK-Delhi flight arrived an hour early last night. Pick up and check-in at hotel all went well. Super nice hotel at the Taj Mahal Delhi!!! The Taj standards, quality, service are excellent. Slept well. Ready to explore Old Delhi and the new parts with our private guide, Parveen. Pictured was our nice, friendly hotel greeting and check-in. On top 11th floor, but a hazy, cloudy view this am. Smog or fog? Good luck to all for having safe travels. THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

In checking this morning, the Silver Moon (circled in red below) is traveling at 17 knots. Yes, it can and will be going faster in order to make Mumbai in time, but the www.cruisemapper.com website reports that ship is encountering "rough waters" now. By my non-expert analysis, the Silver Moon needs to average around 17-18 knots in order to arrive in Mumbai by early the morning of Feb. 14. Will continue to be watching closely as to the ship's progress. THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

As shown in the previous graphic, the Silver Moon has passed the Silver Spirit that is doing a sea-day and only traveling at a speed of 14 knots. Speaking of "journeys", below is the graphic for our upcoming American Airlines' JFK airport to Delhi air routing. The normal route was varied somewhat due to the Middle East "tangles" and warfare. Both ships and airplanes need to pick their routings carefully these days. We are departing Sunday evening from the NYC airport in order to arrive in India for our pre-cruise "Golden Triangle" exploring. First time for us in India and most all of these locations during this Silversea cruise. From this air flight routing, it looks as if we will be flying over Scotland. We will be thinking about the large number of passengers on this Mumbai-Singapore cruise who are from the wonderful UK. THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Great additional background about CD Jonathon Shade above and from Dr. Ron. Will share your greetings and look forward to posting some pictures of him in action, working hard, entertaining, etc. THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Yes, the Silver Moon is making good progress. There is still much distance to cover enroute to Mumbai, BUT, the good news is that the speed both last night and this morning (our time here) is 18 knots. That's above the average ship speed of 17 knots and shows that the Captain can crank things up to meet the scheduled early morning arrival on Feb. 14. Appreciate the good wishes from fdnycruiser and the interest by others who are following along. When we get on the Silver Moon Feb. 14, it will be interesting to learn more from the ship's crew as to the "details" and background for what all they did during this long 20-plus days circumnavigation of Africa. That has been a long, long sailing without benefit of many port stops and/or shore leave. See the current ship's position from www.cruisemapper.com shown below. THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Appreciate this fun follow-up, BUT, don't worry that today (or in the future) that i will have "figured it out". Too complex and confusing for me to predict the future market trends, why and how. Below are the charts for the three major cruise ship lines during the most recent five trading days. Rocky? Up and down? Yes, Yes!! From the Wall Street Journal-connected news source yesterday, they had this headline: “Royal Caribbean Beats Q4 Earnings With Record Bookings, Guides 40% Adjusted EPS Spike In 2024” with these highlights: “Royal Caribbean stock reversed lower Thursday after the cruise line giant beat Q4 forecasts and guided annual earnings expectations to a record for 2024. Royal Caribbean reported adjusted earnings of $1.25 per share, improved from a loss of $1.12 per share the same quarter last year. Revenue leapt about 28% to $3.33 billion but slowed for the sixth consecutive quarter as sales growth normalized, the company said, following the Covid-19 pandemic. As of Dec. 31, Royal Caribbean's customer-deposit balance was $5.3 billion and noted it's encouraged about the demand and pricing environment for 2024. Since the last earnings call, the cruise operator saw its best five weeks of bookings in company history and is at a record booked position in both rate and volume.” Also of interest in their reporting: "Rival Carnival Cruise on Tuesday announced that it is almost sold out for the first half of the year after seeing record booking volumes since November. However, the company expects to take a 7- to 8-cent per share hit to its adjusted 2024 earnings due to rerouting around the Red Sea conflict." Full story at: https://www.investors.com/news/royal-caribbean-surges-on-q4-earnings-with-record-bookings-guides-40-adjusted-eps-spike-in-2024/?src=A00619&refcode=aflMarketWatch THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio AFRICA?!!?: Fun, interesting visuals, plus travel details from this early 2016 live/blog. At 55,670 views. Featuring Cape Town, South Africa’s coast, Mozambique, Victoria Falls/Zambia and Botswana's famed Okavango Delta. www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2310337 Here are the Wall Street Journal charts to reflect the past five days of trading for the three major cruise lines during this past trading week. Rocky? It was really wild for both Carnival and Norwegian this past week. Why?: (Open your screen/viewer wider to see these visuals larger/better!)

Caught up today with this above great additional background and the very nice visuals. Departing Sunday for India and then on Feb. 14, we are due to board the Silver Moon. That ship has had to circumnavigate Africa without passengers in order to avoid the warfare around Yemen and the southern Red Sea. Looking forward to seeing what is being offered these days for entertainment with Silversea. It's been since Covid disrupted things that we have been able to sail. Understand Jonathan Shade will be our CD on this Mumbai to Singapore cruise. Understand he has had some Broadway experience, plus recently doing various Antarctica sailings on the Silver Cloud and Silver Endeavour. Right? As I saw, you had strongly praised him with: “He has one of the finest voices I have ever worked with.” Any other background, tips and insights about Jonathan Shade to share? THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio AFRICA?!!?: Fun, interesting visuals, plus travel details from this early 2016 live/blog on the Silver Cloud. At 55,670 views. Featuring Cape Town, South Africa’s coast, Mozambique, Victoria Falls/Zambia and Botswana's famed Okavango Delta. www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2310337

The Silver Moon is right now rounding the famed Cape of Good Hope with the Silver Spirit shown sailing just ahead in the same direction. Good progress and it will be fun to follow along in this amazing journey over the next twelve days to Mumbai. Now, it's back to packing up, going the bank for added cash, etc., as we prepared for our Sunday flights to NYC JFK airport and then the long 15-hour flight to Delhi. THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Appreciate this great "timing detail" and follow-up from Mr. Levin. Am watching this sailing to Mumbai closely. Below is the current Silver Moon position as it heads around to the southern tip of Africa and sailing towards India. Current ship speed is 17 knots. Hopefully they will speed up to around 18-19 knots for the timing to work correctly on this 4599 nautical miles journey. It will require 10 days 16 hours, at an average 18 knots speed. Looking forward to be on the ship the evening of Feb. 14 in order to buy Valentine's Day dinner for my wife. Plus, some special wine and drinks. THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio Sydney to NZ/Auckland Adventure, live/blog 2014 sampling/details with many exciting visuals and key highlights. On page 23, post #571, see a complete index for all of the pictures, postings. Now at 248,606 views. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/1896175-solstice-live-australianzhawaii-many-pix’s-jan-20-feb-3/

YES, I have the same "hope" that flying the Silversea Silver Moon excursion team to Mumbai could mean adding some more "creative" and interesting options for our three days in Mumbai. Fingers crossed!! As of 9 am ET in the US, the Silver Moon has not yet departed Cape Town. Should soon be doing its sail-away. Below is a picture showing the ship docked there with better lighting and the famed mountains dramatically showing in the background. Great memories of Cape Town from 2016 when we had five days there before boarding the Silver Cloud. Also below is a www.cruisemapper.com chart saying the planned arrival time in Mumbai to be right after midnight for when it is arriving in India. Fingers crossed!! THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio AFRICA?!!?: Fun, interesting visuals, plus travel details from this early 2016 live/blog while sailing on the Silver Cloud. Now at 55,670 views. Featuring Cape Town, South Africa’s coast, Mozambique, Victoria Falls/Zambia and Botswana's famed Okavango Delta. www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2310337

Earlier on another board, Peter from the UK shared: "I spoke to a member of management from Silver Moon who disembarked on 16 January and he gave the following insights: The shore excursion team will disembark at Cape Town and fly to Mumbai to set up pre-cruise excursions. The planned stop in Cape Town will only be 6-7 hours, refuel and any crew changes. No crew shore leave." Very interesting and helpful from Peter. Thanks! Enjoy. Terry from Ohio

The Silver Moon has just arrived in Cape Town. Great News!! THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Yes, interesting from Fletcher about those safely visiting that part of scenic Yemen. BUT, isn't Yemen really two different countries and situations?? The west near the Red Sea under rebel control and full of dangers? And, the eastern part that is more stable and possible? But, no way I am crazy enough to suggest to my cautious wife about traveling to visit Yemen. That would endanger my life to raise such an idea to her. The Silver Moon is right on schedule and set to arrive in Cape Town at 3:15 am Feb. 2. Good news!! Then, we will be able to watch the ship go across the Indian Ocean to arrive early Feb. 14 in Mumbai. THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio From www.cruisemapper.com early this morning:

Since you mentioned "flying down from Delhi", I assume you, like us and others, are doing some type of pre-cruise "India Golden Triangle" tour. Right? We will be doing by a private tour for exploring Delhi, Agra and Jaipur in the Feb. 5-11 period. But, what about the weather for both Delhi and Mumbai in early February? From AccuWeather, here are their projections. Looking good? Sunny! Not too hot! Dry! Let's hope this forecast stays so positive and inviting. But, what about for Mumbai? The averages there during this period are for warmer weather. Here is the longer-range forecast from AccuWeather. Look good? THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio Early 2020, many visuals and details from New Zealand/South Pacific in going from Auckland to French Polynesia. This includes Bora Bora, Fiji, NZ experiences, etc: Live/blog: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2735732-live-terryohio-“new”-regatta-south-pacificnz-pix’s/

Also: Good News is that when checking our My Silversea this morning is that the tour options for a ports such Cochin seem to be working well . . . and holding solid in their system. In addition, did yesterday some dining schedule fine-tuning and those are "sticking" well in their system. Part of the schedule for Feb. 11-13 needs to be updated, but it is good to see and verify continued technical progress. THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Appreciate these above, helpful sharings of information for our Mumbai-Singapore Silver Moon adventure. Hopefully more to come in the next few days. Especially about food, beverages, etc., during our three days in Mumbai. In checking right now, our ship is making even better progress. This www.cruisemapper.com site now shows the Silver Moon (circled in red) arriving at 3:30 am on Feb. 2 in Cape Town. Ahead of schedule and plan!! Isn't that Good News? THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Where, Meg, are you located? For many here in the U.S. and UK, we have reported getting both last Tuesday's initial email and then yesterday's update for tour options, food, etc. None of us have ALL of the details, but at least many of us have received some of the initial "basics". THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Great background and follow-up that Silversea has interest and supports such major sports events such as the Super Bowl. But, for us, with the Silver Moon delayed due to the Africa circumnavigation, what will be possible at our hotels in Mumbai? After getting more of the "basics" for food, beverages and tours answered, hopefully, in the next week. I will push to see what might be possible for early that morning on Feb. 12. Any word from those Australia and/or other locations as if they have received some of the basic information for the Mumbai hotel location, the rough tour, etc., info? THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

YES, let's hope that the tour bookings that both of us made yesterday and this morning do "stick" and stay there on the My Silversea website. Plus, that SS will be giving us more details and specifics for Feb. 11-14 in Mumbai. SUPER BOWL?: While most in the UK and in other parts of the world do not care that much, something really "BIG" is getting ready to happen here. In the U.S. on Sunday, Feb. 11 at 6:30 pm (ET), our Super Bowl commences. As shown below, it is San Francisco versus Kansas City. At that time here, it will be 5 am, Feb. 12 in India. What does Silversea do on its ships, if anything, to provide viewing options for this famed American “football” game? Will Silversea have any options at our ship-provided hotel in Mumbai to be able to view this you sporting contest? But, right now, this is not the biggest question of interest for those doing this Silver Moon sailing, Mumbai to Singapore. And this game also has the major HOT BUZZ of the "Taylor Swift Connection" as her beau is the top receiver for the KC Chiefs. This pop star will be in Las Vegas cheering him and his team on to victory. Inquiring minds want to know more. THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio Summer 2019 Calgary, Jasper/Banff National Parks, Western Canada Rocky Mountaineer rail adventure, Vancouver, sailing up to Alaska on Silver Muse, post-cruise excursion to Denali, etc. Many visuals, Our firsts in these scenic areas! Now at 20,657 views. Live/blog: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2682584-live-terryohio-silver-muse-alaska-canadarockies-pix’s/

As of this morning, it is a "mix" of good and bad news. Is this the "Silversea Two-Step"? Happy per below's morning chart that the Silver Moon is now off of the coast of Namibia and on schedule to reach Cape Town in needed time. Now, Silver Moon is traveling at a 17.3 knots speed. Late yesterday we received the one-page summary of tours for Feb. 11-13. Last week, they promised: "exciting selection of destination experiences". In my view, nothing too inspiring and/or unique, but maybe it will work out OK for what's possible and reasonable in Mumbai? How large of groups and/or full will be the buses for these tours? It is still unclear for the "details" on food and drinks. Maybe, we will have choice and options for where and how we dining in the hotel and/or outside? Or, maybe, just with large, bland buffets in a hotel ballroom? Or, some mixed type of food choices and offerings? That's still very vague and totally unclear. Yesterday, I was able to make added Feb. 15-19 tour reservations through My Silversea. But, then they disappeared later on the SS website. Now, those bookings are back, but we cannot go in and change any of those reservations for these port stops. Silversea IT for this cruise still needs fine-tuning and polishing. Right or wrong? Fair or unfair? Per www.cruisemapper.com this morning with the Silver Moon circled in red: THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio From late 2018, see “Holy Lands, Egypt, Jordan, Oman, Dubai, Greece, etc.”, with many visuals, details and ideas for the historic and scenic Middle East. Now at 22,402 views. Connect at: www.boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2607054-livenautica-greece-holy-lands-egypt-dubai-terrypix’s/