One cabin or the whole hull: the choice, with sums

Either way, it is the same boat on the same three-day route from Labuan Bajo. They differ in who else is aboard, who owns the dates and what the fare carries. The table sets the two columns side by side, line against line.

On the open trip you hold one cabin, Arjuna if it is free, while other parties fill the remaining four. The boat sails on Monday & Friday. The fare is per person, two to a cabin, with the guide and the filming already in it.

On a private charter you have the lot: five cabins, three sundecks, the lounge and the deck table. You choose the start date, and the price is by party size, from IDR 100,000,000 (≈ USD 6,135) for one to four guests. The fare has no guide and no documentation; both are available on request, quoted separately.

The rest is identical. The route, the crew of six, the cruise director, the meals, the bathroom of your own and the hot water in the shower are the same on both. A seat is not a charter, and the charter timetable doesn't come at the seat price.

For two of you, the anniversary sum works out like this. As seats, it is 2 x IDR 11,500,000 (≈ USD 706) for Arjuna on a Monday or Friday sailing. As a charter, it is IDR 100,000,000 (≈ USD 6,135) for the boat, which is IDR 50,000,000 (≈ USD 3,067) each if only the two of you sail.

The seats cost far less and include the guide and the documentation. The charter bill buys privacy and the freedom to choose the date. If the date is fixed to your anniversary and no Monday or Friday falls near it, the charter is the only way to sleep on the boat that night.

Change the party size and the sum changes with it. Two couples pay less on the open trip than they would on the boat. Three couples pay less again. At the top of the charter band the picture turns, and we show that in the section on taking every cabin.

Add the park ticket to either bill. It is a separate line on both, quoted as the park package for your trip type.

A single cabin is the better buy for a couple, since the seats cost less than half the boat; for a date that already lands on a Monday or Friday; for anyone who wants the guide and the documentation in the fare; and for a budget that stretches to Bima at IDR 9,000,000 (≈ USD 552) per person but not to a charter.

Arjuna is the cabin for an anniversary, at IDR 11,500,000 (≈ USD 706) per person. If it is taken, Nakula and Sadewa are matching sea-view doubles at IDR 10,000,000 (≈ USD 613) each, without the balcony and the bath. Bima and Yudhistira sit on the lower deck with portholes.

There is a catch on the other side. On an open trip other guests are on deck, at the table and in the lounge. They won't be in your cabin or your bathroom, but they will be in your pictures.

The table lists every cabin, with its fare. A cabin sells to two, so a lone traveller pays for two.

Several lines don't change whichever you pick. Both bills pay for the harbour transfer, the crew and cruise director, daily meals, free-flow coffee, tea and water, snacks, some fruit, towels, life jackets, snorkelling gear and local Wi-Fi. Both leave out flights, hotels, the park ticket, the drone fee, alcoholic drinks, tips and insurance.

Both are paid in the same two steps. A deposit of 50 percent comes first; the remainder falls due 30 days out, or at the card terminal or in cash on departure day. On the payment side, a card link costs 3 percent extra, PayPal 7.2 percent and the terminal 3 percent.

Both come with a replacement-boat guarantee. Should Gandiva fail to sail on your date, you get another boat of the same class or better at no added cost, or the money is returned to you in full within 2 days (2×24 hours) once the conditions are met.

Just two lines differ: the guide and the documentation, which the open-trip fare includes and the charter does not. The table sets out the rest, line by line.