Two glasses on the Arjuna balcony, and the sails still up

One room decides an anniversary trip on this boat. Arjuna is on the upper deck, with sea-view windows, a double bed, a balcony reserved for the cabin and a freestanding bathtub set under the glass. No other cabin on Gandiva has the balcony or the bath. In the boat's own photographs the towels on the bed are folded into a swan, and the tub is what you see first from the doorway.

Like the other four cabins, it has its own bathroom with hot water, air conditioning, a chiller and a safe box. Nothing in it is shared. If you plan one frame for the whole trip, plan this one: the two of you, a bath run after the day's last landing, the sea going dark in the window.

Now the catch. There is only one Arjuna, so on the open trip it sells first. Send us your date early and we write back to say whether it is still free. The seat fare is IDR 11,500,000 (≈ USD 706) per person, two sharing.

You can pay for the same three days in two ways. On the open trip you take Arjuna and other guests fill the remaining cabins. For two of you that is 2 x IDR 11,500,000 (≈ USD 706), with a guide and photo and video documentation already inside that fare. On a private charter nobody else sails, and the 3D2N price for one to four guests is IDR 100,000,000 (≈ USD 6,135), which is IDR 50,000,000 (≈ USD 3,067) each if only the two of you sail. The per-person column in the table divides each band by its largest party (4, 8 or 12 guests), so read the two-guest figure here.

That is a big gap, so it helps to know what the extra money buys. A charter gives you every deck, the lounge and the timetable, with no other party aboard. It does not include a guide or a photographer; both are available on request, quoted separately. The shot list is yours, and the camera is yours unless you add a photographer.

For parties of five to eight the charter is IDR 105,000,000 (≈ USD 6,442), and for nine to twelve it is IDR 110,000,000 (≈ USD 6,748). Twelve is as many as she takes; a thirteenth guest means a second boat. The park ticket is a separate line on either bill.

The boat's own photo folder holds a night aerial of a dinner on a beach: lanterns set in a circle on the sand and a table in the middle. That is a service we can arrange on request, and it is not part of any fare. The same goes for a cake, flowers, room decoration and a photographer.

You tell us what you'd like and the date. Within one working day we reply with a written quote for each item, and nothing is added to your booking until you have read it and said yes. None of them is free, and none is folded into a fare.

Two things to know. Where a beach dinner can happen on your day is for the route, the weather and the captain to settle, so we confirm the place in writing and never promise it months ahead. And a photographer is not on board unless you add one, which matters because the open-trip documentation and the private-charter fare are different things. Ask early and you have an answer for your dates.

Start on WhatsApp. Your date, the number of guests and the cabin you'd like are enough. Back comes a cabin plan, then a price you can read out to your partner without reaching for a calculator.

Pay 50 percent as the deposit. Settle the rest 30 days before sailing, or hand it over in cash or at the card terminal in Labuan Bajo on the departure day. A card link adds 3 percent, PayPal adds 7.2 percent and the card terminal adds 3 percent. Wise, Revolut, QRIS and bank transfer in IDR are also open.

You hold a booking with PT Komodo Explorer Indonesia, a registered company in Labuan Bajo. Gandiva has a website of her own at gandivaphinisi.com; this site is where our team takes the booking. If Gandiva can't sail on your date, you get a boat of the same class or better at no added cost, or your money back.