**A typical 3D2N comfort-cruise price from Labuan Bajo covers your ensuite cabin, all onboard meals, guided shore excursions, and crew – but excludes Komodo National Park entrance fees, flights to Komodo Airport (LBJ), travel insurance, tips, and premium drinks. As of 2026, park fees are always a separate, non-refundable line item quoted at booking.**
_By Kirana Dewanti, Cruise Editor, Arunika Cruises. Arunika Cruises is operated by Komodo Luxury, a small-ship operator founded in Labuan Bajo in 2015; reservations are handled directly by its team. All figures below are current as of 5 July 2026 and are subject to change – confirm at booking._
What does a 3D2N comfort-cruise fare actually cover?
On a comfort-class small ship, the headline price buys you the boat, the bed, and the experience of getting to the dragons and back. That means a private ensuite cabin (not an open-deck sleeping mat), full-board dining, fuel, the captain and crew, a guide for the walking excursions, and the standard snorkel gear you’ll use at Pink Beach and Manta Point.
Here is the honest line between what almost every comfort operator folds into the fare and what they don’t:
| In the fare | Not in the fare |
|---|---|
| Ensuite cabin (2-3 nights) | Komodo National Park entrance fees |
| All meals on board, plus water, tea, coffee | Flights to and from Komodo Airport (LBJ) |
| Guided shore excursions and ranger walks | Travel insurance |
| Snorkel mask, fins, and life vests | Alcohol and premium/branded drinks |
| Fuel, captain, and crew | Crew tips (customary, not compulsory) |
| Return transfer between the LBJ area and the harbour | Pre- and post-cruise hotel nights |
Because prices sit in the quote-based comfort tier rather than the fixed budget tier, the exact number moves with cabin class, departure date, and how full the ship is.
Which costs sit outside the cruise fare?
The extras are predictable once you know them. Park fees are the big one and get their own section below. Flights are the next: you fly into Komodo Airport (LBJ), and operators such as Aqua Expeditions cite roughly a 15-minute transfer between the Labuan Bajo (Le Bajo Flores) port area and the airport, so build in a buffer. Insurance is strongly recommended – covering cancellation, medical emergencies, and disruption – and drinks beyond the included water, tea, and coffee are billed on board.
For a current, departure-by-departure breakdown of the fare itself, see our detailed 3d2n flores cruise price guide, since public per-person prices in the comfort tier are usually quote-based rather than listed on a menu.
How much are Komodo National Park entrance fees?
This is the single most misread part of any Komodo cruise budget. Park entrance fees are not inside the cruise price. They are a separate, non-refundable line item paid on top of the fare.
The park is managed by Balai Taman Nasional Komodo under Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK). Exact fee tables are not reliably citable in public and change from time to time, so treat any number you see on a blog as a placeholder. The reliable figure is the one the reservations team quotes you at the moment of booking. Plan for park fees as a known unknown – a real cost, sized at booking, never refunded once inside.
How does the payment schedule work?
Comfort-class bookings across the Labuan Bajo market tend to follow a similar deposit rhythm. Using Le Pirate’s published terms as a market reference, the typical structure looks like this:
| Stage | Share of fare | Refundable? |
|---|---|---|
| Deposit at booking | 10% | Non-refundable |
| Second payment | 25% | Refundable only if cancelled 14+ days before departure |
| Final balance (due 14 days before departure) | 65% + park fees | Non-refundable |
Two things worth underlining. The 10% deposit that secures your date is gone if you walk away. And the final 65%, plus those park fees, becomes non-refundable inside the 14-day window. That is exactly why travel insurance covering cancellation earns its keep here.
What does the 3D2N route actually include, hour by hour?
The rhythm of a scheduled 3D2N is tight and worth knowing before you pay. Using the common market pattern (Le Pirate Explorer’s published 2026 schedule), a 3-day, 2-night trip departs every Monday and returns Wednesday around 15:00. Meeting is at 09:00-09:30 at the operator’s office, departure is 10:00 sharp, and you’re back mid-afternoon on day three.
A representative 3D2N includes:
- Day 1 – Board at 10:00, sail into Komodo National Park waters, first snorkel stop and an afternoon island walk.
- Day 2 – Pre-dawn tender to the Padar sunrise hike, then Pink Beach, a ranger-guided dragon walk on Komodo or Rinca, and a snorkel drift at Manta Point.
- Day 3 – One last morning swim or viewpoint, then the run back to Labuan Bajo for a roughly 15:00 arrival.
Every one of those landings depends on the park being open and the sea behaving – which is where seasonality comes in.
Comfort class or deck class – what are you really paying for?
It helps to see the gap in plain numbers. For contrast only (this is the budget backpacker tier, not what Arunika sells), shared “deck class” on 4-day Lombok-Flores-Komodo boats runs about IDR 1.5 million per person, roughly AUD 150, with negotiated child fares near IDR 1 million. Those boats often carry 40-plus passengers in peak season and sleep travellers on open decks.
A comfort cruise is a different product. You pay more because you get a private ensuite cabin, a far lower guest count, and prepared meals – not a mat on a crowded deck. One practical consequence: shared trips carry a minimum age of 16, so families travelling with younger children book a private charter rather than a shared departure. If your budget is fixed at deck-class level, a comfort cruise isn’t the right fit; if a real bed and a quiet ship matter, the premium is the point.
When should you sail, and when should you arrive?
Timing protects both your money and your itinerary. Aqua Expeditions sails the Bali-Komodo-Flores region April to September only, deliberately avoiding the rougher conditions outside that window. Independent guides single out April to June as the sweet spot – greener landscapes, thinner crowds, and better underwater visibility. Frame your plans inside that April-September window.
Arrival timing is just as important. Operators advise reaching Labuan Bajo one day before departure so a delayed flight into LBJ can’t cost you the whole cruise. Le Pirate, for reference, cites about a 10-minute taxi from the airport to its town office on Jalan Soekarno Hatta near the harbour, so a night in town keeps that 09:00 meeting stress-free.
Included vs excluded: the quick recap
- Almost always included: cabin, all meals, guide, crew, snorkel gear, park-area transfers.
- Almost never included: Komodo National Park entrance fees, flights, insurance, alcohol, tips, hotel nights.
- Always quoted at booking: park fees and your exact per-person fare.
The safest move is to ask for a written quote that itemises the fare and the park fees as two separate lines, then confirm what’s onboard. The Komodo Luxury reservations team sizes every figure at the time of booking – reachable on WhatsApp at 628113823875 or sales@komodoluxury.com – so the number you budget is the number you pay, with no park-fee surprise at the jetty.