A boat of your own against a seat on someone else's

A seat means you join a boat that someone else filled. The date, the cabin mix and the other guests belong to them. A charter means the boat belongs to you for the days you book: the date, the headcount, the pace and the water break are yours.

For one traveller or two, the seat is simpler and cheaper. For a group of 12 to 20, the charter wins on control and, at the top of the bands, on price per head. A class that wants to stay together, a team that wants to eat together and a family that wants a bunk room for the cousins all need the second.

This site sells the whole boat and nothing else. If you want one seat, ask us whether a shared departure exists for your date, and you get a straight answer.

The table below puts charter and seat in two columns. Read the rows on who decides the date and who decides the pace; those are the rows that matter to a group leader.

One traveller books the same boat fare as four. The first band, 1-4 guests, is a whole-boat fare, and the boat does not get smaller for a solo guest. A couple pays that fare as well. It is a lot of money for one cabin's worth of sleep.

For two people, this boat is a poor buy. Three of its five rooms use bunks, which suits a class and does not suit a pair who want privacy. The cabins have private bathrooms, but the rooms themselves are shared by design.

If you are alone or in a pair, the right door is a seat on a shared boat. Ask us whether a shared departure exists for your date, and we reply with what is real and not with what is convenient.

If you are one of a group of six friends, though, the arithmetic changes. Six pay a band of 5-8 guests. Add two friends and the band does not move, and each share falls.

Arfisyana carries 20 guests at most, all from one party, and every route returns to Labuan Bajo. For a group, that size shows up at the tender.

The tender lands a group in turns, and a party of 20 means a short run of trips and one list for the leader to count. Twenty is a number a single adult can hold in the head, and a line of 20 on the narrow Padar path is simple to keep together.

If you are weighing a bigger boat, ask us for its live headcount and cabin plan, and compare like with like: who else is aboard, and who decides the pace. We make no promise about the crowds at the stops.

A crossing that ends in Lombok is a different trip. This charter is a loop.

Length is a matter of age and budget, not of ambition.

Three days and two nights (3D2N) is the standard route, and the one we recommend for most groups. It reaches all nine stops, including Komodo Island, and it ends near 12:00 on the third day.

Two days and one night (2D1N) is a sample route for groups short of time or money. It drops Komodo Island and Kanawa and keeps Padar, Pink Beach and the snorkel stops. Students on a school week and a company team with one long weekend can do it.

Four days and three nights (4D3N) is a sample route that adds Sebayur and a spare day for weather. Older groups and alumni who like slow mornings favour it.

One day is a sample route as well. It suits a family with small children and not much else. Pick the length first and the headcount second, because the length decides the leave the group needs to ask for.

A group of 12 and a group of 20 buy the same boat. The only thing that changes is the band, and the band decides how many shoulders carry the fare.

On 3D2N, 12 guests sit in the 9-12 band and pay IDR 5,000,000 (≈ USD 307) each. Twenty guests sit in the 17-20 band and pay IDR 3,500,000 (≈ USD 215) each. The group of 20 pays more in total and far less per head, because eight more guests add only two band steps to the fare.

That is the lever a group leader has. If you are at 14 and a friend or two could join, ask for the next band's figure before you decide. Inside a band, every added guest lowers every share. The first guest past 16 raises the fare by a band and nudges the share up, and the guests after that bring it back down.

Park package per head is paid on top of every share, in every band, so it does not change this comparison. The group charter page gives the share at every headcount.

Every length carries the same inclusions: the whole boat, Arfisyana's crew, meals from the chef, snorkel gear and the transfer from your hotel or the airport. The group charter page lists each line. Longer routes add nights and stops, never cabin fees.

What differs is short. Nights aboard go from none on the one-day trip to three on the 4D3N. The standard 3D2N reaches nine stops, the 2D1N drops Komodo Island and Kanawa, and the 4D3N adds Sebayur and a spare day. The share per head moves with the band and the length together.

On every length the park package per head, tips, flights and hotels stay on the group's own list, plus 3 percent when a card pays the bill. Alcohol is not part of the fare, and a guide or documentation is quoted apart on request.