India and Indian Ocean

The home of one of the world's oldest civilizations, and several of the world's great religions, India has been changing and re-shaping itself for as long as anywhere on earth, forever producing new forms of culture and absorbing new influences.

Visiting the subcontinent, you'll see Kipling-esque visions of spectacular carved temples and gleaming marble palaces, lonely Himalayan lamaseries and far-flung dusty villages where council meetings are held under the shade of a banyan tree, plodding camels and man-eating tigers, holy cows, snake charmers and wild-haired Sadhus.

The islands in the Indian Ocean are among the most exotic, and beautiful in the world. The Lakshadweep (lKadmat) - are beautiful coral atolls, the Andaman and Nicobar - the emerald Islands, Maldives - a coral paradise, Seychelles with their giant granite boulders and Sri Lanka's elephants and forests, Madagascar's tropical mountains are all different, exotic and exciting.

Cruise types

Apart from Superstar Libra which now bases itself out of Mumbai during the Mediterranean winter cruises in this area are almost all repositioning and world cruises. These cruise often have shorter sectors for sale that allow passengers just to cruise in this Ocean.

Cruise season

Most cruises avoid the Monso0n and pass through here between September and May.

Main ports

Local cruises all depart from Mumbai.
Other regional cruise depart from Mahe, Mombasa, Singapore and Dubai.

Weather

The region is tropical and temperatures are warm to hot. The wets period (Monsoon) is from June to September and cruises do not generally operate in this period.

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