Multi-boat charter in Komodo: how 25, 40 and 60 guests are split across boats

Three head counts cover most group briefs: 25, 40 and 60. Each row below comes from published capacities only, and no combination is allowed to exceed them. Zada Ulla takes up to 28 guests, Zada Nara 14, Zada Zen 12 and Zada Mega 10: 64 berths in all.

Behind the table sits a simple ladder: one boat up to 28 guests, Zada Ulla with Zada Nara from 29 to 42, Zada Zen added from 43 to 54, and all four boats up to 64. A spare berth is the margin for a late drop-out or a plus-one, and it is the number worth watching: at 40 guests on Zada Ulla with Zada Zen the margin is zero.

Zada Ulla in its 21 to 25 band is the simple answer: one boat, one captain, one dining table. At 25 guests the whole boat is IDR 135,000,000 · about USD 8,282 for 3D2N, or IDR 5,400,000 · about USD 331 each, the lowest cost per head of any boat at any head count on the 3D2N list.

The two-boat option is Zada Nara with 14 and Zada Zen with 11. Add the two whole-boat rates in the table and you will find the pair costs more than Zada Ulla alone at every length from one day to five. Why would anyone choose it? Cabins. Zada Ulla's 11 cabins at two per cabin hold twenty-two, so 25 guests means three or more in extra beds or in the larger cabins. Zada Nara and Zada Zen together have 7 and 6 cabins, thirteen in all, so every pair of colleagues has a cabin to itself. 2026 rates, IDR, per boat, guide and documentation extra.

Forty is the head count the fleet fits most exactly. Zada Ulla carries 26 of them, in its top band, and Zada Nara carries the other 14. Or Zada Ulla carries 28 and Zada Zen carries 12, which uses every berth and leaves none spare.

Zada Ulla's whole-boat rate is the same for 26, 27 and 28 guests, so in the first pair it is the same IDR 160,000,000 · about USD 9,816 as in the second. The difference lies in the second boat: Zada Zen's rate is lower than Zada Nara's, so Ulla with Zen is the cheaper pair at 3D2N and at every other length. Zada Nara's pairing buys two spare berths and seven cabins instead of six.

Cost per head line. The two Ulla lines give the share of a guest who sails on Zada Ulla; the Nara and Zen lines give the share of a guest on the second boat. Nobody pays a blended price, because each boat is its own charter.

Sixty guests use every boat. Zada Nara, Zada Zen and Zada Mega take 36 between them when full, and Zada Ulla carries the remaining 24, which falls in its 21 to 25 band. That leaves four spare berths out of 64.

There is no four-boat total on this page. Add the four rates yourself, then add the guide and documentation if you want them on any boat, and ask the producer for the written sum, which is the only figure that binds. Four boats are also four captains, four chefs and four dining tables, so a joint dinner is a matter for arrangement, not an assumption.

Sixty is near the ceiling. A group of 62 or 63 still fits on paper, but with one or two spare berths, a single late guest decides whether the plan holds.

Several boats are separate private charters booked together: same dates, subject to every boat being free, quoted per boat. Sailing together, a shared anchorage and a joint programme are arranged on request; the captains set the order and the anchorages.

You can expect one written quote that lists each boat's rate; one deposit schedule per the booking terms; one producer on your file; and a replacement boat for any boat that cannot sail, under the replacement terms. Each captain decides the stops and the hour for the boat in his or her charge, by weather and park rules.

The multi-boat arrangement depends on every boat being free on the same dates. If one is not, the quote changes before anything is signed, not after. Joint meals and a shared anchorage are requests, and we state in writing which of them the captains accept.

Producer's checklist for several boats.

• An allocation sheet: who is on which boat, decided before the rooming lists are written.
• A rooming list for each boat, with pairs named; the bed set-up for each pair is confirmed with the rooming list, in writing, before you pay.
• A dietary list for each boat, because each chef cooks for the guests of one boat only.
• One manifest with names exactly as on the ID, sent before the cut-off in the quote.
• One PIC at your end for the whole group, and a deputy PIC on each boat.

Our side has one producer on your file for all the boats, and each boat has its own captain. At the hand-off each deputy PIC signs off their boat.

With four boats to block, weekdays are easier than weekends, because fewer groups ask for them. If the calendar allows, offer two sets of dates.

The ladder gives you alternatives. If Zada Nara is booked, the 40-guest answer is the pair of Zada Ulla and Zada Zen. If Zada Ulla is booked, the largest party the other three boats can take together is 36, which is 14, 12 and 10 added up; above that, the date has to move.

If the booked boat cannot sail for a reason beyond our control, we arrange a replacement boat for the same dates, or refund you within 14 days, under the booking terms. We confirm class and capacity in the replacement quote.

Moving the date is often the better answer. A second set of dates sent with the first message saves the producer a round trip, and it lets us offer the combination that is free instead of the one you first pictured.