LASHA Maiden Season: What the First Komodo Sailings Look Like

On the morning of 17 August 2026 — Indonesia’s Independence Day — we take our first paying guests out of Labuan Bajo. The announcement has been made; the date is set. What this post covers is the next question people ask our charter desk: what will those first sailings actually be like? Below is the shape of the first itineraries, the honest case for chartering a vessel in her debut season, the parts we cannot show you yet, and what the first departures cost.

What Do the First Sailings Look Like?

The first season stays inside Komodo National Park, and the early charters follow the route shapes we have been planning since the ship was assigned to Komodo service. A typical opening runs like this: guests board at Labuan Bajo harbor in the early afternoon — about an hour after landing at Komodo Airport — and we cruise into the park while lunch is served at the alfresco table. The first afternoon ends at anchor near Kalong Island, where thousands of flying foxes cross the sky at dusk, and the first night is spent at anchor, not in a hotel.

Day two is the dense one. A pre-dawn tender run puts guests on the Padar ridgeline trail before sunrise; by mid-morning the boat is off Pink Beach for swimming and snorkeling; the afternoon holds Manta Point, where reef mantas feed in the channel current, and a ranger-guided Komodo dragon trek at Loh Liang on Komodo Island or at Rinca — a licensed ranger is mandatory on every trek, on every charter, first season or fiftieth. Three-day, two-night charters add a second dive or snorkel morning and a slower final run home. The minimum charter on Komodo routes is two nights, and the full day-by-day route maps are on our itineraries page.

Why Is a Maiden-Season Charter Different?

Three things separate a debut season from every season that follows it, and all three favor the guest.

First, the ship herself. LASHA was launched in 2023 and enters public Komodo service with low hours on her 750 Hp Weichai main engine and interiors that have never worked a season of back-to-back charters. The marble bathrooms, the brass fittings, the linen in all 10 cabins — our first guests use them in the condition the builders signed off, and the first entries in the guest log will carry their names.

Second, the calendar. An established luxury phinisi sells its August and September departures many months out; a vessel opening her first season releases an entire calendar at once. For a few weeks, date choice on a 52.5-metre, four-deck phinisi is wider than it will ever be again — including dates in the heart of the dry season, when crossings are calm and underwater visibility is at its annual peak.

Third, the rates. Our published bands are locked for 2026 and 2027, so a maiden-season booking holds the same whole-boat price the second season will charge — with none of the second season’s competition for dates.

The Honest Part: What a New Vessel Cannot Show You

There are no LASHA guest reviews. Not because we are hiding them — because none exist yet. The first public charter departs 17 August 2026, so the first honest review can only be written after it returns. We will not paste star ratings onto this site before then, and we would encourage you to be skeptical of any brand-new vessel that does.

What we publish instead is everything that can be verified today: hull dimensions of 52.5 by 10.3 metres and 466 gross tonnes; a 2023 build in Ulin ironwood and teak; 10 ensuite cabins numbered 101 to 206 across four tiers, from twin-bed Deluxe cabins to the two Master Suites with in-suite jacuzzi bathtubs and private balconies; a safety inventory that includes two lifeboats and four 20-person liferafts; and complete per-night rate tables rather than a “price on request” form. Ask our charter desk hard questions before you book — the specification sheet is the review we can offer this year, and we intend for the 2027 page to carry the other kind.

What Do the First Departures Cost?

Maiden-season pricing follows our published 2026 rate bands, and every figure below is a “from” price for the entire boat — LASHA sells private whole-boat charters only, never cabin-by-cabin places.

Sleeping Aboard: The Part Day Boats Never See

The defining fact of the first sailings is not any single stop — it is that our guests stay in the park overnight. Around 6 pm the day fleet turns for Labuan Bajo and the anchorages empty; dinner is served on deck as the light goes, and the generator settles to a hum below the waterline. Guests wake already positioned for Padar or Manta Point while the day’s first arrivals are still two hours out of port. That multi-night rhythm — evenings at anchor, the dive deck ready at dawn, up to 26 guests spread across four decks — is the core of what we sail, and we cover it in full on our liveaboard page, including the five-night eastern expeditions toward Raja Ampat, the Banda Sea and Wakatobi that follow the Komodo season.

How Do You Join the First Season?

Every LASHA booking runs through one desk: Komodo Luxury, our official marketing and booking partner. Send your dates, group size and whether you want the leisure or dive configuration, and the desk replies with a written quote against the published tables — the step-by-step process, deposit timing and payment channels are set out on our booking page. Maiden-season dates from late August 2026 are open now, and the 2027 calendar is already live.

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