Getting to Raja Ampat

[SteveM54]

I'm trying to plan a liveaboard trip (10-17 days on the "boats") to the Raja Ampat area for Jan. - Feb or March of '25.
My once in a life time trip !!!!

Starting in St. Louis, Mo.
Going through Seattle - Taipei -Jakarta - then Sorong.
That's 11,873 flight miles over 67 hours in airports - traveling alone.
Kind of "dicey" but do-able.
I'm concerned about being totally worn out from the ride just getting there (just hit 70) & then having to sleep for three days just to recover from the "jet lag".
So if anyone else has had this type of experience, please share your ideas with me as to:
1. Did you stop for a "day or three" somewhere & dive or tour or just rest or ????
2. What liveaboards did you like or not ? Found one that has a 7 day & then the next trip is 10 more days = 17 days back to back.
3. I have the time to add a week on the front end of this trip so ideas & comments would very much be appreciated.

I don't care about on the way home but on the to Raja Ampat - I'm worried about: delayed luggage, lost gear & just being wiped out.
Thanks

 

[Joneill]

Last - flying to Kaimana from Sorong on Wingz - I think we ended up using a friendly agent in Bali that we had used previously to book this for us (they were willing to take any of our cards - although a couple of US-based banks will block charges from Indonesia...)

I also prefer to book directly with the airline, if at all possible. However, I had issues booking directly with Lion Air/Wings for my Kaimana to Sorong flight next January: on both mobile and desktop, it would just hang after showing the flights and not let me actually book.

The workaround I found was to use a VPN (Surfshark) to make it look like I was in Jakarta. Once I did that, I had no more hangs and the reservation went through and I got my eTicket.

The only other issue that I had was it would not take my United Explorer Visa either (like @Dan) - but I had no issue when I used my Amex Platinum.

 

[Dan]

I just booked my flight from Houston to Jakarta with Singapore Airlines, leaving Houston at 18:50 on 12 January and arriving in Jakarta at 10:15 on 14 January, 2025. That’s 27 hours & 25 minutes.

If I add a United flight STL-IAH, leaving St.Louis at 11:20, arriving in Houston at 13:40 with 5 hour layover in Houston, that would add 7.5 hours of travel time, including layover in Houston.

Door-to-door travel time from St.Louis to Jakarta would be 35 hours. Not bad in comparison to the Seattle & Taipei route of 67 hours.

I did fly with EVA air a couple of times in 2023, Houston-Jakarta and Houston Cebu with a 3-hour layover in Taipei. Both flights were 2 hour delayed arriving in Taipei. Both times my luggage got stuck in Taipei and caught up with me in Jakarta and Cebu 1-2 days later. Never again flying with EVA air unless I have at least 4 hour layover in Taipei or a day stay in Jakarta or Cebu.

 

[Dan]

I'm trying to plan a liveaboard trip (10-17 days on the "boats") to the Raja Ampat area for Jan. - Feb or March of '25.
My once in a life time trip !!!!

Starting in St. Louis, Mo.
Going through Seattle - Taipei -Jakarta - then Sorong.
That's 11,873 flight miles over 67 hours in airports - traveling alone.
Kind of "dicey" but do-able.
I'm concerned about being totally worn out from the ride just getting there (just hit 70) & then having to sleep for three days just to recover from the "jet lag".
So if anyone else has had this type of experience, please share your ideas with me as to:
1. Did you stop for a "day or three" somewhere & dive or tour or just rest or ????
2. What liveaboards did you like or not ? Found one that has a 7 day & then the next trip is 10 more days = 17 days back to back.
3. I have the time to add a week on the front end of this trip so ideas & comments would very much be appreciated.

I don't care about on the way home but on the to Raja Ampat - I'm worried about: delayed luggage, lost gear & just being wiped out.
Thanks

Back to OP questions:

My answers:

1. Just in Jakarta since my international flight arrives at 10:15 and the domestic flight departs at 00:10 on the next day, which gives me about 12-hour layover. I book a hotel stay for that day for a good sleep. I have done it this way about 4-5 times. The last one was in February 2024, Trip Report - Raja Ampat 2024

2. I have been on Temukira, Pearl of Papua, La Galigo, Amira, Mermaid 1 & 2, Blue Manta, White Manta. I like them all.

3. You can add a week in front or after the liveaboard by staying in a dive resort in Raja Ampat. I’ve been in Raja Ampat Dive Lodge, Misool Eco Resort, and Raja4Divers,Trip Report - Pulau Pef - Little Raja Ampat. In January 2025, my dive club charter White Manta for a 10-day crossing from Sorong to Kaimana, White Manta Diving - Misool-Fak Fak-Triton. Some of us, including @Joneill will stay one more week in Raja4Divers dive resort.

 

[reubencahn]

Highly recommend time at the front end if you can swing it. Gives you a chance to shake out any equipment issues and fine tune buoyancy if you haven't been in the water for a bit.

 

[cetacean]

If I add a United flight STL-IAH, leaving St.Louis at 11:20, arriving in Houston at 13:40 with 5 hour layover in Houston, that would add 7.5 hours of travel time, including layover in Houston.

Door-to-door travel time from St.Louis to Jakarta would be 35 hours. Not bad in comparison to the Seattle & Taipei route of 67 hours.

I did fly with EVA air a couple of times in 2023, Houston-Jakarta and Houston Cebu with a 3-hour layover in Taipei. Both flights were 2 hour delayed arriving in Taipei. Both times my luggage got stuck in Taipei and caught up with me in Jakarta and Cebu 1-2 days later. Never again flying with EVA air unless I have at least 4 hour layover in Taipei or a day stay in Jakarta or Cebu.

@Dan - did you go to the transfer desk in TPE to ask them to transfer your luggage?

If you don't do this, your luggage will transfer - good chance your bags make it, but there is a chance they won't. If you ask, they can track your bags, and they mentioned they can mark this as a priority.

Last time I transfered to MNL through TPE (flying EVA - plane delayed, just made the connection) my bags also didn't make it, but they did show in MNL 4 hours later, and to my hotel 2 hours after that.

 

[Dan]

Last time I transfered to MNL through TPE (flying EVA - plane delayed, just made the connection) my bags also didn't make it, but they did show in MNL 4 hours later, and to my hotel 2 hours after that.

I had to rush from arrival gate to connecting flight in TPE due to flight delay. I knew then my luggage won’t make it.

The connecting flight to Cebu is once a day. So my luggage arrived in Cebu on the next day. I already in Malapascua then, diving with rental gears.

On another trip to Indonesia, the connecting flight to Jakarta is also once a day. So my luggage arrived in Jakarta on the next day.

I supposed to continue to fly to Ambon, connecting to Saumlaki, stay for a night in Saumlaki and the next day to meet Amira crew for a trip to Forgotten Islands. Since my luggage didn’t make it to Jakarta that day, I made a change to my domestic flights to fly to Ambon and Saumlaki on the next day, I booked for a night in Anara hotel in Jakarta to wait for my luggage to catch up with me. Cancelled my stay in Saumlaki. Filed a travel delay cost to Allianz.

The next day flights luckily went on time with 14 other guests of Amira. One guest was stayed in Saumlaki a day earlier and joined us in Amira. Had that domestic flights got delayed in Ambon, 15 out of 16 guests would be stuck in Ambon for a day. The boat won’t sail with only one guest, so the boat would also wait for us and we would have a day less crossing sail to Maumere.

 

[Dan]

@Dan - did you go to the transfer desk in TPE to ask them to transfer your luggage?

If you don't do this, your luggage will transfer - good chance your bags make it, but there is a chance they won't. If you ask, they can track your bags, and they mentioned they can mark this as a priority.

Last time I transfered to MNL through TPE (flying EVA - plane delayed, just made the connection) my bags also didn't make it, but they did show in MNL 4 hours later, and to my hotel 2 hours after that.

I gave up flying with EVA air. Fly with the best airlines in the world, Singapore Airlines (SQ).

SQ have 6 flights from Singapore to Jakarta at 06:50, 09:30, 12:30, 16:10, 17:20, 22:40. So I won’t worry too much about my luggage won’t make it with me on my flight to Jakarta. If there were a flight delay in Singapore and my luggage didn’t go with me to Jakarta, my luggage would show up in Jakarta 2-3 hours later. I have flown with SQ since 1980’s and my luggage never get lost / delayed (knock on wood).

From Houston to Singapore with 75 minute stop over in Manchester, I’m not worried about my luggage getting stuck in Manchester because we’ll be flying with the same airplane. We’ll be just disembark with our carryon luggage, walk through UK TSA, walk back to the same airplane and sit back on the same seat. It’ll be a good stretching exercise after 8 hour sitting in the airplane.

 

[uncfnp]

I am currently looking at travel options for my March 2025 Raja Ampat trip but start with a week at Lembeh.

JFK to MDC through Singapore looks good but price shows cheaper on Travelocity vs direct through Singapore air. Any reason NOT to use Travelocity? Will my bags transfer?

Return would be CGK-SIN-JFK

 

[Dan]

I am currently looking at travel options for my March 2025 Raja Ampat trip but start with a week at Lembeh.

JFK to MDC through Singapore looks good but price shows cheaper on Travelocity vs direct through Singapore air. Any reason NOT to use Travelocity? Will my bags transfer?

Return would be CGK-SIN-JFK

Do you look it up through the ones in iPhone App or Desktop version of Singapore Aitlines website? I’m going with the same flight for my December trip to Alor. Bought it directly through Singapore Airlines. Desktop version shows cheaper option than the one in iPhone app for some reasons.

If you can reserve seats & get the mileage awarded to your preferred Star Alliance airline (like United) through Travelocity, why not? It happened to me once by buying the ticket through Expedia. I don’t know why that is.

I like this route because of the nonstop flight JFK-SIN and I can fly IAH-LGA with United using my United Mileage Plus, which I have a lot of miles from those international flights with Star Alliance partners (ANA, Singapore Airlines, EVA air, Turkish Air, United, etc.).

 

[uncfnp]

Do you look it up through the ones in iPhone App or Desktop version of Singapore Aitlines website? I’m going with the same flight for my December trip to Alor. Bought it directly through Singapore Airlines. Desktop version shows cheaper option than the one in iPhone app for some reasons.

If you can reserve seats & get the mileage awarded to your preferred Star Alliance airline (like United) through Travelocity, why not? It happened to me once by buying the ticket through Expedia. I don’t know why that is.

I like this route because of the nonstop flight JFK-SIN and I can fly IAH-LGA with United using my United Mileage Plus, which I have a lot of miles from those international flights with Star Alliance partners (ANA, Singapore Airlines, EVA air, Turkish Air, United, etc.).

Ipad on their app. Will compare to computer.