Komodo liveaboard cabins: which one to book

Start with the deck plan, not the cabin name

What you are actually buying when one cabin on the same boat costs more than another.

Two people on the same Komodo boat, on the same four nights, can pay USD 135 apart. Situju7 sells its Bali Grand Suite at USD 1,944 per person for its five-day, four-night cruise and its other four cabins at USD 1,809, both after a 10 percent discount. Same crossing, same crew, same food. ¹

So the cabin is a small money decision and a large sleep decision. It sets how much the hull moves under you at three in the morning, who else is in the room, and whether one person pays for two beds. Komodo Luxury's own cost guide reduces the whole question to three physical things: bed size, private or shared bathroom, and deck position. ⁶

• Bed size and configuration. A double, a twin of two singles, or a bunk. Many boats convert between the first two on request, so the layout on the website is a starting point for a conversation. ^{6, 5}
• Bathroom. Ensuite in the cabin, or shared down the corridor. On luxury boats every cabin is ensuite and the class ladder is built on the other two variables instead. ^{6, 7}
• Deck. Upper deck buys view, light and quiet. Lower deck and midship buy a steadier night. Operators charge more for the first and quietly recommend the second to anyone prone to seasickness. ^{6, 4}

The boats leave from Labuan Bajo, the harbour town in West Manggarai Regency on Flores. Every price here was read from an operator's or booking platform's own page on 26 September 2026, and rupiah converts at Bank Indonesia's JISDOR reference rate of IDR 17,917 per US dollar for 25 September 2026. If you are still choosing between sleeping on a boat and sleeping ashore, MMT's liveaboard against shore diving comparison prices both. ⁸

What do suite, deluxe and master actually mean?

Two operators publish their full cabin ladders. Read them side by side and the pattern is clear.

The names are marketing. The deck plan is the fact. La Galigo publishes square metres, deck and bed setup for each of its classes, which makes it the clearest worked example on the Komodo route. Its Deluxe cabins sit on the lower deck at 12 square metres with a private ensuite. Its Master cabins sit on the upper deck at 14 square metres. Its Suite runs to 22 square metres with a private balcony. ⁵

Ayvara puts money on the same ladder. Its seven ocean-view cabins run in three classes on identical three-day, two-night departures: four Superior cabins with panoramic windows and no balcony from USD 450 per person, two Deluxe cabins with a private balcony from USD 530, and one Master Suite with a balcony, sleeping up to three, from USD 570. ⁹

One line to carry into the booking form. A balcony on Ayvara costs USD 80 per person over two nights. Ten extra square metres and an upper deck on La Galigo is the difference between its Deluxe and its Suite. Neither operator charges a different price for the reefs. ^{9, 5}

How much does the top cabin actually add?

Three boats, three price ladders, and the gap between the cheapest and the best cabin on each.

On every boat with published prices, the whole upgrade lands between USD 28 and USD 135 per person. That is the gap between the cheapest cabin and the top cabin on the same hull, the same route and the same menu. Set against the flights to Labuan Bajo, it is small enough that the right question is which cabin you want, not which one you can justify. ^{1, 9, 10}

Situju7 has the most rungs and the smallest step. Five named cabins, two prices, and 7.5 percent between the cheapest and the best. The port and park fee of USD 300 per person sits on top of every cabin equally, which flattens the gap further once you look at the real total. ¹

Nadia shows the same shape at a quarter of the price. The wooden phinisi carries up to 12 guests in 5 cabins and prices its three-day, two-night trip by cabin: IDR 3,750,000 per person for a Deluxe Cabin Sea View and IDR 4,250,000 for a Master Cabin Sea View. At the JISDOR rate that is about USD 209 and USD 237, a gap of IDR 500,000 or 13.3 percent for the identical route. ^{10, 8}

What does a solo traveller pay for a cabin?

Three real routes through the single supplement, with the numbers each one produces.

Booking a cabin alone has a published price, and it varies more than anything else on this page. Komodo Resort's own blog calls 30 to 60 percent on top of the per-person price the common single supplement on Komodo liveaboards. Situju7's own site charges 75 percent. Both figures are real; neither is the market rate, and the spread is why you ask before you fall in love with a boat. ^{2, 1}

The shared twin is the underrated answer. Komodo Luxury's own page states that a shared cabin sleeps two on twin or bunk beds, paired by request with another solo traveller of the same gender, its standard practice for solo female travellers unless told otherwise. Komodo Resort describes the same arrangement at no extra cost. Between them that is the difference between USD 2,109 all in and USD 3,465.75 all in on one boat. ^{3, 2, 1}

Budget the whole trip on the same basis before you compare boats. A supplement that looks brutal on a four-night cruise can still beat two people splitting a hotel and day trips, and MMT's solo and couple adventure budgets shows which lines actually halve when you travel in a pair.

Which cabin is steadiest if you get seasick?

Cabin position against motion, from a liveaboard operator, a diving-medicine body and a government health service.

Midship and low. That is the whole answer, and an operator says it out loud. La Galigo's own seasickness guide states that midship and lower-deck cabins are the most stable areas of the vessel, because the least movement occurs near the ship's centre of mass, while cabins at the bow or stern move more. It calls choosing the cabin position the first and most effective step for a guest who is prone to it. ⁴

Two independent sources point the same way. Divers Alert Network tells divers to stand in the centre of the boat, away from the upper and lower deck extremes where bobbing and swaying are more pronounced, to watch the horizon, and to choose the largest boat available because a wider beam rides more steadily. Nidirect, Northern Ireland's government health service, gives the general-travel version: sit in the middle of a boat and look straight ahead at a fixed point. ^{12, 13}

Which puts the upgrade in an awkward place. The upper deck is where operators put the Master cabins and the balconies, and it is the deck that moves most. La Galigo publishes both halves of that trade in its own marketing: the Master cabins for seclusion and sunrise, the lower-deck Deluxe cabins for guests concerned with seasickness. If you know how you travel, the cheaper cabin can be the better one. ^{5, 4}

One comfort for a first liveaboard. La Galigo's guide states that seasickness, where it happens, typically lasts only the first 24 to 48 hours as the body adapts. On a five-day, four-night trip that is the crossing out, and then the trip you booked. ⁴

Count the guests per cabin before you count the bathrooms

An ensuite cabin on a 25-guest boat is a different room from an ensuite cabin on an 18-guest boat.

Divide guests by cabins and the boat's real character appears. Cachalo, a 51-metre luxury phinisi built in 2024, carries a maximum of 18 guests in 9 ensuite cabins: two per cabin, and no shared-bathroom class at all. Ahsana, a 30-metre boat with 9 cabins, carries up to 25 guests, which averages 2.8. Ballona Phinisi, launched in 2026 with 8 private ensuite cabins, also carries up to 25, or 3.1 per cabin. ^{7, 14, 15}

An all-ensuite boat at 3.1 guests per cabin is selling privacy from the corridor, not privacy from a third bed. That matters most to two friends travelling together who booked a cabin and expected a twin. Ask for the cabin's stated occupancy, in writing, with the class name beside it. ³

Situju7's own numbers still take some assembling. The operator describes 4 spacious double-bed cabins with ensuite bathrooms plus one large cabin with a bunk bed in one section, and names its five cabins with prices in another. A third section, easy to miss, does name the bunk cabin: Cabinette Lombok. Sumba and Sumbawa Cozy Deluxe are the two the site calls both 'twin' and 'double bed' in the same sentence, so confirm that pair before you book. ^{1, 16}

What should you confirm in writing before you pay?

Six questions, one email, sent before the deposit rather than after it.

Komodo Luxury publishes the four questions its own guests should ask, which is a rare thing for an operator to write down. Send them to the boat before you transfer anything, and add two more about money. A reply in writing is what you will hold if the cabin on the day differs from the cabin on the page. ³

1. 01

   The cabin class name

   Name the exact class you are buying, in the operator's own words: Deluxe, Master, Superior, Suite, or the boat's own invented name. On Situju7 that means naming which of the five cabins you have. ^{3, 1}

2. 02

   The bed configuration

   Double, two singles or a bunk, and which of those the crew will set up for your dates. La Galigo's rear Deluxe cabins and both Master cabins convert between two singles and one double on request. Ask, and get the answer in the email. ^{3, 5}

3. 03

   Ensuite or shared bathroom

   The word ensuite in a listing refers to the cabin, and some boats mix ensuite and shared-bathroom classes on the same deck. Confirm which one your fare buys. ^{3, 6}

4. 04

   Which deck the cabin sits on

   Upper for view and quiet, lower and midship for a steadier night. If motion at sea troubles you, say so when you ask, and give the crew the chance to put you near the centre of the boat. ^{3, 4}

5. 05

   The single-occupancy figure in currency

   Ask for the surcharge as a number you will transfer, not as a percentage. The published range runs from 30 percent to Situju7's 75 percent, which is USD 542.70 to USD 1,356.75 on a USD 1,809 cabin. ^{2, 1}

6. 06

   What sits on top of the cabin fare

   Situju7 charges a Komodo port and park fee of USD 300 per person above every cabin price, and Ahsana's from-price excludes park fees entirely. MMT's guide to marine park and conservation fees covers how these lines are usually collected. ^{1, 14}

Then read the boat back to yourself in one sentence. Four nights, lower-deck Deluxe, two singles, ensuite, USD 1,809 plus USD 300 in fees. If any part of that sentence is a guess, you have found the question to send. For the wider trip around it, start with MMT's Indonesia travel guide.