Planning a community or alumni reunion trip in Komodo on one boat for up to 20 guests

A reunion trip works best when nobody shares the deck with strangers. Booked whole, Arfisyana is the class, the choir, the old office or the hometown association, and nobody else.

The ceiling is firm. She has 18 standard berths, and the extra bed in each of the two Master Cabins brings that to 20, confirmed in writing. When 26 people reply yes to the group chat, do not promise all 26 a berth. Ask us before you answer.

The floor is softer than people think. The whole-boat price runs by band, so 9 members can travel too; each share is just larger. At 12 guests the 3D2N works out at IDR 5,000,000 (≈ USD 307) each, at 16 at IDR 4,060,000 (≈ USD 249).

Start with a poll, not a price. Ask who can come, on which two or three possible dates, and from which city. The answers decide the band, the date and the flights before any money moves.

Money ends more reunions than distance does. Run it like a club treasury, with one account, one spreadsheet and dates everyone saw in advance.

• Announce the share per head for the band you expect, and say plainly that it moves if the headcount moves.
• Collect each member's part of the 50 percent deposit by a fixed date. Only then pay us.
• Collect the balance before it is due to us, 30 days before departure.
• Collect the park package as a separate line. Indonesian and foreign members pay different rates.

Dropouts are the hard part. Say 2 members cancel from a group of 20 on the 3D2N. The boat price stays in the same band, and each share rises from IDR 3,500,000 (≈ USD 215) to IDR 3,890,000 (≈ USD 239). If 4 drop out, the group falls to the 13 to 16 band at IDR 65,000,000 (≈ USD 3,988), and the shares settle at IDR 4,060,000 (≈ USD 249).

Agree the rule before the first payment: a member who cancels gets back what our scale returns, 50 percent from 60 days out, 25 percent from 30 to 59 days, and nothing after that. Then nobody argues about it at the airport.

Five cabins, five decisions. Every cabin has its own bathroom, air conditioning and a sea-view window.

• The two Master Cabins: a double bed each, for couples, or a couple with a small child on the extra bed.
• The Sharing Room for 6: a double bunk and a single bunk, for the loud end of the class.
• The Sharing Room for 4: two double beds, stacked.
• The Third Sharing Room: bunk beds for 4.

The double bunks seat the trickiest conversation of the trip, because two adults share each double berth. Old friends laugh about it. Colleagues who have not met in twenty years can find it awkward. Ask before you assign.

The Master Cabins are the other question. Some groups draw lots. Others agree a flat top-up for the four guests in the Masters, decided by the whole group and written down. Either works, as long as it is settled before anyone pays.

The 3D2N gives a reunion a natural shape. Day 1 is arrivals and the first walk on Kelor, which sets the pace and tells you who has kept fit. The sunset at Kalong, with the flying foxes filling the sky, is the evening for the speeches.

Day 2 starts dark. The group walks up Padar for sunrise, 30 to 45 minutes on steps, with water and a headcount at the top. Then Pink Beach, the ranger walk on Komodo Island, and two snorkel stops. That evening the sun deck, with its bean bags and lazy chairs, is the place for the old photographs and the stories nobody believes.

Day 3 is short: a snorkel at Kanawa and back in Labuan Bajo around 12:00.

Bring the banner, the old yearbook, a printed group photo from the last reunion. A phinisi does not come with a photographer: documentation is not part of a private charter, so either a member takes the pictures or you ask us for a photographer, quoted separately. Alcoholic drinks are not in the price either; ask us in writing what the boat allows before anyone packs a bottle.

A community trip is rarely a group of fit thirty-year-olds. Plan for the whole range before the poll closes.

Children aged 0 to 2 travel free. From 3 a child counts as a guest, takes a berth and pays a share. A small child fits on the extra bed in a Master Cabin beside the parents, which keeps the sharing rooms for the adults.

Elders do best in the Masters, which have a double bed rather than a bunk. Padar is the hard walk of the trip, 30 to 45 minutes up steps. Nobody has to climb it. Members who stay aboard at sunrise get the sun deck to themselves and the best coffee of the morning.

Non-swimmers still snorkel. Life jackets are aboard for everyone, and a mask with a jacket at Kanawa is enough to see the reef from the surface. Ask us how many child-size jackets the boat carries if you bring children.

Tell us about medical needs on the name list. There is a first-aid kit aboard, and that is all: a member who needs daily medicine brings enough for the trip and a few days more.

A reunion of 20 needs four people with clear jobs. Give each job one name.

• Treasurer: collects shares and the park money, pays us, keeps the spreadsheet.
• List keeper: full names as in passports or ID cards, numbers, dates of birth, dietary needs and allergies. Sends it to us at least 7 days before departure.
• Flights coordinator: makes sure every member lands the day before, and books return flights after 14:00 on the last day.
• Our contact: the one person who talks to us on WhatsApp, so the answers do not split across five chats.

The pickup from your Labuan Bajo hotel or the airport to the harbour is included. Tell us the meeting hotel the night before and we plan the pickup from there.

Then write the first message to the group. Keep it to five lines: the dates, the trip length, the share per head at the expected headcount, the deposit date, and the cancellation scale. Members who read those five lines and still say yes are the ones who come.