Fourteen friends, one boat price

This is a plan built for pairs. 7 cabins, each with one double bed, a bathroom of its own and a private balcony, give 14 guests a door they can close on the rest of the group. After a day of walking and swimming, that is exactly what friends want.

Odd numbers are no problem. Thirteen friends fill seven cabins with one person sleeping alone; eleven make five pairs plus one cabin for whoever is left over.

The one rule is the beds. Each cabin has one double bed; separate beds exist only as the extra bed in an upper cabin. Friends who need their own beds should ask us before booking, and we will say plainly which cabins can be arranged that way. Mansard I, Mansard II and the Junior Suite, on the upper level, take an extra bed for one or two guests, while the four Deluxe studios on the main deck take none.

Because the boat is priced whole for 1 to 14 guests, every extra friend brings everyone's share down. On 3D2N the boat costs IDR 180,000,000 (≈ USD 11,043): eight friends pay IDR 22,500,000 (≈ USD 1,380) each, twelve IDR 15,000,000 (≈ USD 920) and fourteen IDR 12,860,000 (≈ USD 789).

Longer voyages work out cheaper per day. Twelve friends on 4D3N pay IDR 19,170,000 (≈ USD 1,176) each for four days, and fourteen on 5D4N pay IDR 20,000,000 (≈ USD 1,227) each for five. The table below runs the same sums for other group sizes.

The park package, drinks, tips and, if you want them, a guide with documentation all sit outside the boat price. Up to eighteen guests can sleep aboard, with each guest from the fifteenth paying the extra-person rate of IDR 6,000,000 (≈ USD 368) on 3D2N.

For friends, four days is the length that works best. On day 1 you board at 10:00, snorkel at Sebayur, Manta Point and Taka Makassar, and anchor for the night. Day 2 brings the Padar climb, Pink Beach, the Komodo walk and sunset at Kalong. Day 3 is Rinca and a snorkel at Manjarite, and day 4 finishes on Kelor before the return to Labuan Bajo.

A four-day charter includes the set-up dinner on the beach, on a beach that weather and tide choose. Otherwise the day runs to the sun rather than a timetable, and nobody gets hurried off a reef to keep to a schedule.

The captain decides the stops and the anchorage according to the weather. If a closure takes Komodo off the plan, Rinca and the snorkel stops stay, and we tell you what has changed.

A friends trip works best with one organiser and one invoice. The organiser sends us the dates, the head count and the cabin list, and we reply in writing with the quote for the boat and the lines beside it. A 50 percent deposit reserves the dates, and the balance is due 30 days before sailing, or in cash or by card machine on departure day.

If the group would rather pay in instalments, ask us, and we will confirm in writing how the payments will be taken before the first one goes out. Card links carry 3 percent, PayPal 7.2 percent and the card machine in Labuan Bajo 3 percent; Wise, Revolut, QRIS and bank transfer are accepted too.

Park tickets are issued in each guest's name, so we need passport details before sailing. Sending them along with the cabin list speeds the booking up.