A Komodo liveaboard with a jacuzzi is not a myth, and you have found her official home. Lady Grace is a 34-meter phinisi, a wooden ship built the traditional way by the boatbuilders of Bulukumba, South Sulawesi, carrying a private jacuzzi on her sun deck, ten cabins across five grades, and a maximum of 22 to 24 guests. She sails from Labuan Bajo on 2D1N, 3D2N, and 4D3N itineraries, sold two ways: per cabin on shared open trips (IDR 5–8.5 million per person for the 3D2N route, depending on cabin grade) or as a full private charter (IDR 123–129 million). Below is the honest version of what soaking in warm water while sailing past Padar actually feels like, written by the people who run the boat.
Last updated: August 16, 2026
Yes, the jacuzzi is real, and it runs at anchor
Guests ask about this more than anything else, usually with a note of suspicion. Fair enough. Plenty of boats in the Komodo fleet advertise a “jacuzzi” and mean a plunge tub filled with seawater. Ours is a working jacuzzi on the deck, filled and run by the crew, and it operates while we sit at anchor in the calm bays where Komodo itineraries spend most of their nights.
Putting one on a wooden phinisi took some stubbornness. Water is heavy, and a hull shaped by hand in Bulukumba was never drawn with a tub of it in mind. The shipwrights balanced the deck load against the ballast during her fit-out, which is why the jacuzzi sits where it does rather than where a brochure photographer might prefer it. The trade-off bought us something no rendering can fake: you sit in warm, moving water and watch a Komodo ridgeline turn orange without another boat in the frame.
The four moments the jacuzzi earns its keep
After the Padar climb
The viewpoint trek on Padar starts early, before the heat, and the stairs are honest work. Coming back aboard with dust on your calves and folding into the tub while the crew raises anchor is, according to our guests, the exact moment they decide the boat was the right call.
Kalong at dusk
Off Kalong Island, thousands of flying foxes leave the mangroves at sunset in a stream that lasts far longer than you expect. Most of our guests watch it from the water: in the tub, drink in hand, bats overhead. It has quietly become the signature photo of this boat.
Between snorkel stops
Manta Point and Taka Makassar sit in open channels where the current does the work and the water can run cool. A warm soak between drops keeps children and cold-blooded adults in the rotation instead of wrapped in towels on a bench.
The last night
On the 3D2N and 4D3N routes the final evening is unhurried by design. The galley serves dinner on deck, the anchorage is quiet, and the jacuzzi stays open late. Nobody has ever asked us to close it early.
Ten cabins, five grades: how an open trip on Lady Grace works
We sell the boat the way a small hotel sells rooms. On an open trip you book a cabin, not a bunk in a dormitory, and you share only the decks, the dining table, and the jacuzzi with the other guests aboard. Ten cabins across five grades means a couple on a sensible budget and a family taking the top suite sail the same route, eat the same food, and soak in the same tub.
For the 3D2N open trip, cabins run from IDR 5 million to IDR 8.5 million per person depending on grade. If you want the whole ship, with your own route timing, your own music on deck, and the jacuzzi permanently yours, a private charter runs IDR 123–129 million. Every cabin has its own page on this site with real photos and plain notes on which grade suits whom, and our published 2026 schedule lists each departure.
Choosing a grade without overthinking it
Light sleepers should read the cabin pages for placement notes before choosing; the rest of the honest difference between grades is space and window line, not experience. The dragons do not check your cabin category.
What a day aboard actually looks like
Our itinerary pages break each trip down hour by hour, so here is only the shape of it. Mornings start early because Komodo rewards early: the Padar trek before the sun gets serious, ranger-guided walks among the dragons while they are still active, snorkeling before the day boats arrive from town. Afternoons slow down at Pink Beach, on the sandbar at Taka Makassar, and with the mantas when season and current agree. Evenings belong to the deck. Distances inside the park are short, so Lady Grace spends her nights at anchor in flat, protected water, which is also why the jacuzzi is usable rather than ornamental.
Sailing Komodo in 2026: the two facts worth knowing
First, capacity. Komodo National Park now enforces a cap of 1,000 visitors per day. In practice this rewards travelers who plan against a published schedule instead of walking the Labuan Bajo waterfront the night before departure. It has also made the marquee sites noticeably calmer, which we consider a fair trade.
Second, the earthquake. On August 15, 2026, a magnitude 7.7 quake struck the region. The recorded tsunami was 0.36 meters, not destructive, and the park reopened the same day. Crews across this fleet sailed their scheduled routes; wooden hulls at anchor in protected bays rode it out the way phinisi have ridden out weather for generations. We post updates on our schedule pages whenever park authorities change anything, and right now nothing about a 2026 Komodo trip calls for more than ordinary planning.
One boat in a working fleet
Lady Grace does not sail alone. She is operated by Komodo Luxury — a registered Indonesian PT under Juara Holding Group Limited with 1,500+ verified guest reviews (4.9/5) — which handles reservations, crewing, and provisioning for a working fleet out of Labuan Bajo. If our dates do not line up with yours, Catnazse and Yumana, sister vessels in the same fleet, sail the same waters with their own characters and cabin layouts. For a wider view of what departs from this harbor, the fleet’s Labuan Bajo liveaboard guide compares boats and routes side by side, and the group’s Indonesia Juara site covers travel beyond Flores, from Raja Ampat to Bali, under the same standards. Full fleet details sit with Komodo Luxury directly.
That is the honest picture. A wooden ship from Bulukumba with a tub of warm water on deck, ten cabins, a crew that fills the jacuzzi without being asked, and a national park that remains, cap and quake and all, the best reason in Indonesia to sleep on the water. Our hour-by-hour itinerary pages and the 2026 schedule carry the rest of the detail; the dragons handle the drama.
