What does an all inclusive Komodo boat trip include? Vhale, line by line

Most Komodo pages use the words all inclusive the way a waiter uses the word fresh: warmly, and with no menu to check it against. We would rather hand you the menu. The honest form of the phrase is a ledger in two columns, one for what the fare carries and one for what sits outside it, kept in the same order wherever a price appears.

This page is that ledger for Vhale, a phinisi with 12 air-conditioned cabins. It follows Vhale's 2026 fares, updated on 8 October 2026, and the list of what is on board. Where a detail depends on your booking, we confirm it in writing instead of filling the gap with a pleasant guess.

There is a practical reason too. Twenty-odd people seldom argue about the big numbers; they argue about the small ones. Who pays for the second case of water, whether the guide was supposed to be free, what the park actually charged. A list agreed in advance removes most of those quarrels, and removes them cheaply.

The shortest accurate answer: the boat, the table, the water and the transfers are in the fare, while the park, the flights, the hotels and the bar are not.

Every line below is part of the fare, on the whole boat and on a single cabin alike.

• Transfer, twice: a hotel or airport pickup before the trip and a drop-off after it, in Labuan Bajo.
• The boat and Vhale's crew: 12 air-conditioned cabins and a crew of nine. They belong to the boat.
• All meals on board: full board, served in an indoor dining room with a wooden table or an outdoor one with a long teak table and a U-shaped bench.
• Snacks and drinks: free-flow mineral water, tea, coffee and milk, plus juice.
• Snorkel gear and life jackets: both on board, and a life raft is listed.
• Two paddle boards, a speaker and karaoke set, and an outdoor chill area with a day bed.
• A refrigerator and a water dispenser, which is what makes the free-flow line believable.

Nothing here has been rounded up. If a line is missing from this list, it is missing from the fare.

This is the column most pages leave short. Ours reads:

• The Komodo National Park package. The entrance ticket, the ranger and the local levies are billed as one package that depends on the trip type. Our park fee page sets it out, and it is the only route by which the park's charge reaches you.
• Flights to and from Labuan Bajo, and hotels before and after the trip.
• Alcohol, and any drink beyond the free-flow list. Bring whatever else you would like to drink.
• Tips for the crew and the guide, at your discretion.
• On a private charter, the guide and the photo or video documentation, available on request and quoted separately.

If you plan to bring your own wine or beer aboard, ask us before you buy a case and we confirm the arrangement in writing.

Park rules apply to everyone aboard regardless. Since April 2026 the park has enforced a cap of 1,000 visitors a day, so the ticket is arranged early, and by us, which is one more reason it has a line to itself.

Whole boat or single cabin: the choice moves the ledger in exactly two places.

On the whole-boat charter the guide and documentation are not in the fare. The 3D2N whole-boat fare is IDR 148,000,000 (≈ USD 9,080) for the boat, the same for any party from one guest up to 28 on standard beds. A party under 20 pays the same fare, so a small group is usually better served by the other route.

On the open trip, a single cabin on the 3D2N that starts on Monday & Friday, the guide and the photo and video documentation are included. Fares run per person by cabin type, from IDR 4,450,000 (≈ USD 273) for a Coral sharing berth to IDR 8,950,000 (≈ USD 549) for an Atlantic balcony cabin. The park package still sits outside.

Everything else in the first column is the same on both routes.

The fare is not the last line of the ledger, and it would be odd to pretend it were.

A deposit of 50 percent holds the date, and the balance falls due 30 days before sailing. Paying by credit card link or at our card machine in Labuan Bajo adds 3 percent, and PayPal adds 7.2 percent; ask us what applies to any other method. Children aged 0 to 2 travel free, and from age 3 the full fare applies.

Should the boat you booked be unable to sail, a replacement boat is arranged on a private charter. That is a promise about the boat, not about the weather, which nobody controls.

One last practical note. Keep the WhatsApp thread with our written answers in it. If the boat, the date or an inclusion is ever in dispute, that thread is the record both sides will reach for.

A few details depend on your party rather than on the boat, and those we settle with you one by one. Send us any dietary needs with the guest list, and we pass them to Vhale's crew and confirm in writing what the galley will serve. For the Azure and Coral cabins, ask us which bathroom arrangement your cabin has; the answer arrives with your quote, before any payment.

Refunds and rescheduling follow our booking terms page, and we apply those rules exactly as written. If a rule bears on your decision, read it before the deposit.

Ask about any of this on WhatsApp and the answer comes back in writing, in the same thread as your quote. That thread is the ledger's last page: everything agreed for your party, in one place, before anyone boards.