PIO Card

I am planning to travel with my family to India in early December for 3 weeks. My daughter has a PIO card that was issued in 2007 and is valid until 2022. We recently got her passport renewed, so the PIO card does not have her new passport number endorsed in it (and since the PIO scheme has been discontinued they very likely won't endorse it).
I am wondering whether we need to get the 'OCI card in lieu of PIO' before we travel . The processing time posted for this is 60 days plus any additional unanticipated time delays. As someone posted earlier, I too prefer NOT to do the PIO to OCI conversion until we finish this trip (as per the latest regulation, we have until March 31, 2016 to apply for the 'OCI card in lieu of PIO' anyway). While seemingly, we may have enough time to get this done, I would rather not mess with the process before our trip.

I have a couple of questions:

1) While it appears that the PIO cardholder can travel to India on the basis of their PIO card and valid foreign passport as of now, will this hold true for December as well? I will be carrying my daughter's old and new passport.

2) What are people's experiences with the 'OCI card in lieu of PIO' process? Has it been smooth? What are the processing times in the Washington, DC consulate?

3) Can someone post their recent experiences with Indian immigration for traveling on a PIO card?

4) As a safety measure, does it make sense to get an entry visa as a safety net?

I am looking for opinions on what would be the "best" course of action given our travel plans in early December.