Komodo without the rush, on a boat with room for eighteen

On a charter Elbark is hired whole, and each length carries one price for the boat. The shortest charter, 2 days and 1 night, starts at IDR 120,000,000 (≈ USD 7,362) for up to 10 guests. The longest, 6 days and 5 nights, is IDR 230,000,000 (≈ USD 14,110). Between them sit 3, 4 and 5 days.

Past ten guests the price grows in small, fixed steps. Each guest from the eleventh up to 18 adds IDR 6,000,000 (≈ USD 368) on a 5-day charter. Fourteen guests on 5 days make IDR 224,000,000 (≈ USD 13,742) for the boat, which is IDR 16,000,000 (≈ USD 982) each. The sum is the same however the party divides it.

Per day, per head, the long plans are the better buy. Eighteen guests pay IDR 15,440,000 (≈ USD 947) each for six days. For three days the share is IDR 9,780,000 (≈ USD 600). That is why most of this site is about four, five and six days.

Park tickets sit outside every boat price. Guiding and photo or video documentation stand outside a private-charter price too, and we quote them separately on request.

Misool takes the best of the upper deck: 34 sqm, a double bed, a bathtub, a work desk and a private balcony with sofa and jacuzzi. Misool is named after the karst islands of Raja Ampat; the cabin itself looks out over Komodo water.

Weh and Mentawai sit beside it on the upper deck at 13.6 sqm, each with a bathtub and big windows. Selayar and Rote, 9.24 sqm each, are a few steps from the dining room and lounge on the main deck. Toraja and Alor, Banda Neira and Savu are on the lower deck at 8.75 sqm, with a small round marine window.

The Alor cabin borrows its name from an island north of Timor. None of the nine names is a route. The boat sails only inside Komodo National Park, from Labuan Bajo, and every cabin is air-conditioned with an ensuite bathroom, a rainfall shower and hot water.

This is a sample route, since only the 3-day trip has a fixed stop list. The captain sets the final order with you, and the written plan follows before you pay. Day 1 holds Sebayur or Siaba, Taka Makassar and Manta Point. Day 2 is Padar and Pink Beach. Day 3 is Komodo Island, Pengah and Kalong.

Day 4 is Rinca and Manjarite, and day 5 ends at Kelor before the boat returns to Labuan Bajo. The pattern is deliberate: three stops at most in any day.

The third day is where the extra length pays for itself. Breakfast runs late, a grandmother stays in the shade of the sundeck and the teenagers are back from a swim before anyone has decided on the afternoon. A 3-day trip has no such morning. The detailed 5-day page lays out every day, and the 4-day and 6-day pages show the same loop shorter and longer.

Not every party needs the whole boat. For a couple or a small family with three days, Elbark Cruises also runs a shared open trip, 3 days and 2 nights, on Fridays and some Mondays, sold by the cabin. Every date is in the calendar with its status, and the first is Friday, 6 November 2026.

The fare follows the cabin name. Misool is IDR 11,500,000 (≈ USD 706) per person with two sharing, and the lowest fare, in Banda Neira or Savu, is IDR 6,500,000 (≈ USD 399). A cabin fare includes the cruise director guide and a photographer. Park tickets are paid separately.

Four, five and six days are never open trips. They exist only as private charters, on any day the boat is free.

Look at who books four days or more and the same shapes come back. A family of fourteen across three generations. Eighteen friends who kept one date free for years, a company team that wants a week away from the office, a family marking a birthday with a round number.

Each of those parties has its own page: a multigenerational family, a group of 18, a company retreat, a trek-and-snorkel week, a milestone birthday and a VVIP long voyage. Each shows an itinerary adapted to that group and a worked price for its size.

Ten guests pay the base boat price and leave four cabins empty. Eighteen fill all nine, and the price shows each extra guest plainly.

A long charter has time to keep the stops that a short one hurries. Padar has its ridge and Pink Beach its long morning. Komodo Island has a ranger-led walk, Manta Point and Taka Makassar are for snorkelling, and Kalong is for dusk. Kelor has a short hill, and Sebayur or Siaba a first swim.

Rinca joins the longer plans, and Pengah and Manjarite appear by name in the sample days. On four days or more the captain can give a stop a morning, not an hour. Weather and tide decide the order, and no sighting of dragons, manta rays or bats is promised.

Each stop is written up separately, down to the shoes the walk needs.

April to October is the dry season, with firm ground underfoot. The water is calmest in two spells: April to June, and again once September arrives. July and August bring more wind and more boats. November to March brings green hillsides and moving water. In July the sun rises at Padar at 06:18 and sets at Kalong at 17:57.

A slow week on the water is easier to plan than a fast weekend, because five days give the captain room to move a stop to a better morning. The month matters less when the sailing is spread out.

The season grid shows all twelve months, and the guide on the best months for a five-day trip goes further.

Put plainly, Elbark Cruises suits a party of 10 to 18 who want four to six days on one boat. It suits the Misool master cabin, and an open-trip guest who wants an ensuite cabin of their own. It does not suit a party above 18, a diving week or a one-day trip.

If two or three of you have only three days, one cabin on a Friday sailing serves you better than the whole vessel. Say so, and we tell you.

Booking, payment and the pickup are our part. Send the head count and the number of days, and we answer with a cabin plan and one price to forward to everyone coming.