What a Komodo charter costs for a couple, cabin or whole boat

By Komodo Cabin Charter Editorial Desk

Sourced figures: rates in the table carry their source and check month. Most are published by a single seller for a single boat, so they are not a market price, and nothing here is legal advice.

A couple normally pays two per-person fares for a private cabin on a shared boat, because two guests meet the minimum that agents such as Salam Ransel and Komodo Trips set for that room. Hiring the whole boat costs a couple far more, on one agent's own account. Park tickets, ranger charges, flights and insurance come on top of either choice.

Can a couple get a private cabin on a shared boat?

Yes, on the listings we can cite, and this is the one place where being two people works in your favour. Salam Ransel sells a private cabin only to two or more, and steers a lone guest into a shared one. A Komodo Trips listing for one open-trip boat sets the same floor for its Master Cabin and its Private Cabin, and describes the Master as a queen bed with a private bathroom.

What the word private buys varies. Hello Flores, reviewing one higher-grade cruise it sells, says your room, bed and bathroom are yours, while meals, activities and the schedule are shared. In other words you get a door that closes, and you still eat with the boat. Decide in advance whether that suits you both.

At the budget end, check that a private room exists at all. One traveller's budget-boat account, set out in our open-trip cabin guide, shows what a lower fare can buy. A couple comparing prices should first confirm that each boat on the list has a private room to sell, because a lower fare on a boat without one buys a different trip.

What does a couple pay per person?

The same as anyone else in that cabin, twice over. Komodo Trips quotes packages per person, so your bill starts at two fares for the room you choose. No listing cited here adds a charge simply because you are a pair, though Labuan Bajo Tourism makes clear that the cabin chosen sets the fare, with the named suites dearest.

The price table on this page holds four reference points, and they are not four versions of one thing. The superior and luxury rows are Salam Ransel's lowest published rate per boat grade. The Labuan Bajo Tourism row is a band for a standard phinisi, running by cabin, and its upper end belongs to the better rooms. The Giona row is a whole-boat rate. A couple who want their own bathroom should ask which cabin a floor rate buys before budgeting from it.

The fare is only the first line. This is how the other common charges fall on two people, as sellers and operators describe them.

Other sellers' fares are set side by side on the page about cabin charter cost.

Is a whole boat ever sensible for two?

On price alone, rarely. Asik Travel explains the mechanism: the boat carries one price because its crew, fuel and galley bills do not change between two guests and ten, and the per-person figure falls with every added guest until the boat is full. The agent's own verdict is blunt. Two people on their own boat pay far more, whereas ten people filling one boat pay about what ten shared berths would cost. That sum is for Asik Travel's own boats.

You can run the test with the price table. Take the row for the Giona, which Asik Travel publishes as a single price for one to five guests. Set it beside two fares from the standard phinisi row, which comes from the same seller under its Labuan Bajo Tourism name. These are different boats, so the exercise shows scale and does not measure a saving. It will tell you quickly how much of a premium you would be paying for the boat to yourselves.

What that premium buys is control. Salam Ransel notes that a private group can change where the boat goes and when. If your flights fit no shared departure, or the idea of a schedule and a dining table with strangers would spoil the trip for you, the sum may be worth doing properly. If neither applies, a better cabin on a shared boat is likely to be the more sensible way to spend the difference.

A request here can lead to a contract with a company in our group, so do this arithmetic yourself, before anyone proposes a boat. The page on private phinisi charter cost gives more published rates to test it against.

Which extras apply to each of you?

Split them into charges that follow the person and charges that follow the boat or the group, because only the first kind doubles.

The ticket follows the person and the day. Samara Liveaboard says each person pays it for every day spent inside the park. So do not assume the count of ticket days equals the count of days on the trip. Ask for the park-day count on your itinerary, and have the line written out for two.

The ranger fee follows the group. Dive Komodo treats it as apart from the park ticket, and collects it in cash at the landing, before the walk. On a shared boat, your group may include other cabins, so ask who collects and how it is divided. Pack cash for this, and ask the seller how much.

Your own spending follows you. If you plan to mark an occasion on board, note that Phinisi Trip's page excludes alcohol and tips. The Komodo Trips listing also leaves out travel to the meeting point. Lines like these are what make a final bill differ from a first quote. The guide to park fees on a charter lists the park charges line by line.

What should a couple ask about the cabin?

Two people in one room have different questions from a solo guest in a bunk. Ask these before you compare fares, and have the answers written down.

• Is it one bed? A queen on one boat's Master Cabin does not mean a queen elsewhere. Ask for the layout of your room by name.
• Is the bathroom yours? The word private on a listing may not settle this. See the page on cabin bathrooms and comfort.
• Which deck? Hello Flores, reporting on one boat it sells, found the air conditioning cold, the Wi-Fi imperfect at some hours, hot water in the lower-deck cabins and a crew that anchored in calm water at night. That is a seller on its own product. Ask the same four things about yours.
• How many others will be aboard? Hello Flores puts that cruise's usual number at 8 to 16 guests. A dining table for eight and one for far more are different holidays.
• Where do two sets of bags go? Tight storage is harder on two people than on one, so ask to see it.

The labels these answers use are decoded in our page on phinisi cabin types.

What else do couples ask about the cost?

Do couples pay a supplement for a private cabin?

No such charge is shown on the listings cited here, because two guests already meet the minimum for that room. The cabin itself still moves the fare, so two people in a named suite pay more than two people in a lower cabin on the same boat.

Will we get a double bed?

Not automatically. A Komodo Trips listing gives its Master Cabin a queen bed, but other rooms on other boats may differ. Ask for the bed layout of the exact cabin and have it written on your confirmation.

Do both of us pay the park ticket?

Yes. Samara Liveaboard counts it by person and by day in the park. Unless your written quote says it is already included, budget for two tickets on every park day.

Can a couple hire a whole boat?

Yes. Asik Travel publishes a rate for the Giona that covers one to five guests on a single price. It says plainly that a couple pays far more that way, so compare it with two shared fares before deciding.

Will we eat with the other guests?

Yes, on the shared model Hello Flores describes, where meals and the daily schedule are shared even though the room is private. If that would spoil the trip for you, the whole-boat route is the one that changes it.

Which sources support this page?

Labuan Bajo Tourism and Asik Travel are one seller. Treat their two pages as one voice.

• Salam Ransel, Komodo boat tour comparison
• Komodo Trips, 3D2N open-trip listing
• Hello Flores, shared cruise review by a seller
• Komodo Trips, terms and conditions
• Labuan Bajo Tourism: three-day cruise guide
• Asik Travel: private boat charter guide
• Samara Liveaboard: guide to park regulations
• Dive Komodo, terms and conditions
• Phinisi Trip, 3D2N tour packages
• Neptune Liveaboards, park fees guide

How do I reach the desk?

Give the desk your dates and say which matters more to you, the room or the fare. WhatsApp +62 811-3941-4563 or email bd@juaraholding.com. Nothing binds anyone until a written offer is accepted.