Most bookings
Standard booking
50%
to confirm
Balance no later than 30 days before departure. This is the structure that applies to almost every booking, on every format from a day trip to a VVIP charter.
The mechanics, in order
How Booking Works
What a hold actually is, what confirms a vessel, when the balance falls due, and the six things that sit outside the fare. Nothing here is a surprise on the invoice.
In short
Booking runs in four steps: you tell us dates and group size, we hold the vessel or cabin for 48 hours at no cost, a 50% deposit confirms it in writing, and the balance falls due no later than 30 days before departure.
- The hold is 2 × 24 hours and is frozen outside our working hours rather than counting down overnight.
- Rates are confirmed in writing, in USD, for your specific dates and vessel.
- Book roughly a year out and the deposit drops to 30%, with 20% more at 120 days.
- The deposit is non-refundable once the booking is registered. We say so before you pay it, not after.
Step by step
From first message to the jetty
Five stages. Nothing is charged until stage three, and nothing is committed until you have read the terms.
Tell us the shape of the trip
Dates or a window, how many of you, and what the trip is for. That last part changes the answer more than the first two — a dive trip, a family with a seven-year-old and an anniversary need different vessels.
We hold it for 48 hours
Once a date and a cabin are identified, we can hold that space for 2 × 24 hours. Nothing is charged; the space comes off the open list while you check flights or talk to your group. A hold is not a booking — availability stays live until the deposit is raised.
A deposit confirms it
Fifty per cent, against a written confirmation naming the vessel, the route, the dates and what is included. You accept the terms before any invoice is raised, not after. Card, bank transfer or Wise; transfer charges sit with the sender.
Balance at 30 days
The balance is due no later than 30 days before departure. Book inside that window and the trip is simply payable in full. Booking about a year out splits differently: 30% now, a further 20% at 120 days, balance at 30.
Documents, then arrival
Passport details for park ticketing, dietary requirements, any medical note and your flight times. Come in the day before if you can — if you must arrive on the day, be in town and ready by 09:00 WITA. The boat does not wait for a delayed domestic flight.
Shared departures need a minimum of ten participants to run. If that number is not met we offer an alternative vessel on the same date rather than cancelling the trip.
Payment structures
What you pay, and when
Three published structures. Which one applies is decided by how far ahead you book, not by which boat you choose.
Peak dates
Booked a year ahead
30%
to confirm
A further 20% at 120 days, balance at 30 days. You secure the date and the vessel now and pay for the trip on a schedule that follows it — which is why booking early is not the financial burden people expect.
Inside 30 days
100%
on booking
There is no deposit stage left, so the trip is payable in full. Late bookings are entirely normal on shoulder dates; they are simply paid all at once.
The deposit is non-refundable on cancellation, and a replacement participant may be substituted in your place. Full cancellation terms are in the published terms and conditions, which you accept before any invoice is issued.
Why the hold exists at all
Our reservations desk runs 09:00 to 17:00 WITA, which is UTC+8. Write from Milan, Amsterdam or Madrid and you are six or seven hours behind that; from New York or Toronto, wider still. Your message lands in Labuan Bajo overnight.
Without a hold, a guest in Singapore would beat a guest in Spain to the same cabin purely on time zone. So the hold is frozen outside working hours rather than counting down while nobody is at the desk — and roughly 58% of our bookings come from Europe, so that is most of you.
If you write outside our hours and already know what you want, the reservation form and terms can still reach you the same night. Nobody should wait on documents because of the clock.
What sits outside the fare
Three groups of items. None of them is unusual for a liveaboard anywhere, and all of them are easier to deal with at booking than in the last week.
Park entrance
The Komodo National Park ticket is approximately USD 40–50 per international visitor and USD 20–25 per Indonesian visitor, issued as a dated ticket valid for the day printed on it. The fee is charged separately from the sailing, while drone permits require a separate application at least seven days in advance.
Flights, and the clock
Flights to and from Labuan Bajo are yours to arrange, and direct services are not consistent from every hub. Vessels dock between 11:00 and 12:00 WITA on the final day, so build the outbound flight around that rather than the first departure of the morning — later still if anyone has been diving.
Insurance and extras
Travel insurance is not included and is strongly recommended, with medical evacuation cover rather than cancellation cover alone — and check that diving is covered if you plan to dive. Alcohol and personal items sit outside the fare. Gratuities are not compulsory; where guests do tip, 10–15% in cash is the usual guide.
A guest who booked eleven months earlier has usually forgotten which items were theirs to arrange. We send the list again a month out for exactly that reason.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How long can you hold a cabin?
- Forty-eight hours — 2 × 24 hours, not two working days — once reservations confirms the hold. It is frozen outside our 09:00–17:00 WITA hours rather than expiring overnight. Nothing is charged during a hold, and availability stays live until a deposit is raised.
- Is the deposit refundable?
- No. Once a booking is registered the deposit is non-refundable, and we tell you that before you pay rather than after. A replacement participant may be substituted in your place. The full terms are published and you accept them before any invoice is issued.
- When is the balance due?
- No later than 30 days before departure. If you book inside 30 days the trip is payable in full at booking. On a year-ahead booking the schedule is 30% now, 20% at 120 days, balance at 30 days.
- How do I pay?
- Card for most bookings, with international bank transfer and Wise as alternatives — larger charter bookings more often go by transfer. Bank charges on international transfers sit with the sender, which is worth knowing if you are paying from Europe or North America.
- What if I need to change dates?
- Ask, in writing, as early as you can. Changes depend on vessel availability and any difference in rate, and there is no published amendment fee. What we will not do is quote you a policy on the phone that differs from the written terms.
- Do you quote firm prices for next season?
- We confirm rates in writing, in USD, for your specific dates and vessel. We do not publish speculative rates for a season that has not been scheduled. If a company gives you a firm figure for a distant season the instant you ask, the fair follow-up is what happens to that figure once the season is actually scheduled.
Before you commit
- When It Is Busy From 1,063 bookings: when the park fills, when it empties, when to commit.
- Park Tickets & Cap Registration, the dated ticket, the visitor cap and the full fee table.
- What Is Included What the fare covers on each format, and the three lines it never does.
- Full Price List Every format and tier in one table, published rather than on request.
- Safety at Sea The six papers a legal phinisi carries, and how to ask to see them.
- Contact Dates, group size, and a real answer on availability.
Send the dates, get a hold
Tell us the window and the headcount. We will come back with what is genuinely free, hold it for forty-eight hours while you check flights, and put the terms in front of you before anything is invoiced.
Start an Enquiry
+62 811-3823-875
sales@komodoluxury.com