Raja ampat Liveaboard

[drk5036]

My raja ampat liveaboard scheduled for end of December was also cancelled. Postponed to next December.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I'm looking at early 2023. Watching this thread.

 

[Dan]

Don't know.

I made the call myself about 10 days ago and moved it to 2023. EVA cancelled my ORD-TPE leg and I didn't want to search for a new routing only to have it all fall apart anyway since my Magic-8 ball fluctuates between "Don't count on it", "My sources say no" and "outlook not so good".

Thus I'm off of Mermaids Jan2022 mailing list.

Thanks for the update. I think you made a wise move.

I’m one of group of 7 divers. If we decide to reschedule, that won’t be easy to find a future trip date that would meet everyone schedule. So it is more likely each of us would reschedule for different dates. That means the group rate (15% discount from splitting the free of charge spot equally to 7 of us) would no longer applied to our rescheduled trip.

Personally, I would wait until December 10. If the trip is a GO, then I would scramble to find flights 2 months before the trip. If the trip is NO GO and everyone still wants to stick together, then we are looking at rescheduling to sometime in 2023, otherwise disbanding the group, everyone finds a reschedule date, sooner than 2023, that would suit to his own schedule and pays back the 15% group discount.

 

[Illini_Fan]

Personally, I would wait until December 10. If the trip is a GO, then I would scramble to find flights 2 months before the trip. If the trip is NO GO and everyone still wants to stick together, then we are looking at rescheduling to sometime in 2023, otherwise disbanding the group, everyone finds a reschedule date, sooner than 2023, that would suit to his own schedule and pays back the 15% group discount.

Good luck either way. What I used to take as a given, fairly wide-open potential routes between DFW and CGK, seem much much more challenging right now. Also the transit restrictions added to the complexity - even if there is a flight, there is no guarantee that you can transit through that country right now.

 

[drrich2]

Personally, I would wait until December 10. If the trip is a GO, then I would scramble to find flights 2 months before the trip.

Got a general question about Raja Ampat trips originating from the U.S. About how long in advance does one need to make the arrangements (e.g.: flight, hotel, etc...), to still get decent rates?

How many days do you usually take getting there, and how many back? I would think from the U.S. it'd be fly to an international hub (LAX?), then fly nearly a full day getting to Indonesia, crash in a hotel while your circadian clock freaks out, then fly to Raja the next day to board the boat. 3 Days? Do you make it back in 2 or 3?

Just trying to get a decent grasp of travel logistics, and thought maybe others would benefit as well.

 

[Illini_Fan]

Got a general question about Raja Ampat trips originating from the U.S. About how long in advance does one need to make the arrangements (e.g.: flight, hotel, etc...), to still get decent rates?

How many days do you usually take getting there, and how many back? I would think from the U.S. it'd be fly to an international hub (LAX?), then fly nearly a full day getting to Indonesia, crash in a hotel while your circadian clock freaks out, then fly to Raja the next day to board the boat. 3 Days? Do you make it back in 2 or 3?

Just trying to get a decent grasp of travel logistics, and thought maybe others would benefit as well.

I use miles - so the trip I just cancelled (planned to depart 30DEC), I booked in Feb 2021. And I'll do the same for my rescheduled Jan 2023 trip. I typically split the itinerary so I'll book the oubound before the return trip. I very rarely find business class seats on a round trip routing. The hotel is booked whenever I get around to it. The intra-Indonesia flight I would have booked about now had I been going. This was my planned routing - the liveaboard was 02JAN - 11JAN:

Booked	19:14​	21:40​	30-Dec​	UA 2199	DFW	ORD	A319	United
Booked	0:20​	6:00​	31-Dec​	BR55	ORD	TPE	B773	EVA
Booked	9:00​	13:30​	1-Jan​	BR237	TPE	CGK	A333	EVA
not booked	0:30​	6:35​	2-Jan​	Gurada Indo	CGK	SOQ		GA
not booked	8:25​	10:10​	11-Jan​	Gurada Indo	SOQ	CGK		GA
Booked	18:20​	23:30​	11-Jan​	QR957	CGK	DOH		QR
Booked	8:10​	15:05​	12-Jan​	QR729	DOH	DFW		QR

 

[Kensei]

Got a general question about Raja Ampat trips originating from the U.S. About how long in advance does one need to make the arrangements (e.g.: flight, hotel, etc...), to still get decent rates?

How many days do you usually take getting there, and how many back? I would think from the U.S. it'd be fly to an international hub (LAX?), then fly nearly a full day getting to Indonesia, crash in a hotel while your circadian clock freaks out, then fly to Raja the next day to board the boat. 3 Days? Do you make it back in 2 or 3?

Just trying to get a decent grasp of travel logistics, and thought maybe others would benefit as well.

Well, the answers to your questions fall deep into the "it depends" area. From Los Angeles, or any other US city, there are no direct flights to Jakarta so you'll probably go through Hong Kong or Tokyo. It's about 23 hours of flying to Sorong from LA. The key is to minimize your stay at airports in between. When I went there, I went from Los Angeles (where I live) to Hong Kong to Jakarta to Sorong. The layover in HK was under 2 hours but my layover in Jakara was something like 12 hours. Not sure if it's still true, but many of the Jakarta to Sorong flights left late at night. So figure from Kentucky about 1+ days each way of travel, depending on the length of your connections. I made my liveaboard and flight reservations about 2 weeks in advance of the trip and still got great rates. The liveaboard was running a 20% off special and free nitrox.

There's a great capsule hotel in the Jakarata airport. It has a locked locker, excellent wifi, secure baggage room and really nice showers. They also provide a towel and soap. It's literally in the airport so you can be sleeping right up until your flight leaves. It's quite comfortable in the capsule with TV, USB ports, headphones and various mood lighting options! I couldn't sleep much because I was so jet lagged but that wasn't the facilities fault. There are also other hotel facilities in the airport.

A few other suggestions based on over 50 flights from east asia to the US:
1. When at all possible, pay for an upgraded seat such as those in the emergency exit row for long flights.
2. When at all possible, do not fly US carriers. JAL, ANA and Singapore Air are way better for about the same price. Even though I was technically on American, I was actually on a code-share flight from Jakarta to Los Angeles on ANA. Once you've flown the Japanese airlines, you'll learn what service is all about.
3. If you're going to be on a boat cruising in the RA area, bring an unlocked cell phone and get a phone/data card in the Jakarta airport. You will get reception when you get close to an island so you can send and receive messages.
4. Finally, if at all possible, do not take one of the 1 week liveaboard trips.... it's too short given how much time you're spending on flights and the time zone difference. You'll just be getting used to the time zone when it will be time to do that trip from hell all over again. I did a 12 day trip.
EDIT:
5. One other thing that's a nice to have is Global Entry. It costs $100 and takes a while to get, but it's good for 5 years and gives you benefits such a PreCheck and very expedited immigration processing when entering the US. Immigration lines can be brutal entering the US. With Global Entry, I don't think I've ever spent more than 10 minutes going through US immigration.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Well, the answers to your questions fall deep into the "it depends" area. From Los Angeles, or any other US city, there are no direct flights to Jakarta so you'll probably go through Hong Kong or Tokyo. It's about 23 hours of flying to Sorong from LA. The key is to minimize your stay at airports in between. When I went there, I went from Los Angeles (where I live) to Hong Kong to Jakarta to Sorong. The layover in HK was under 2 hours but my layover in Jakara was something like 12 hours. Not sure if it's still true, but many of the Jakarta to Sorong flights left late at night. So figure from Kentucky about 1+ days each way of travel, depending on the length of your connections. I made my liveaboard and flight reservations about 2 weeks in advance of the trip and still got great rates. The liveaboard was running a 20% off special and free nitrox.

There's a great capsule hotel in the Jakarata airport. It has a locked locker, excellent wifi, secure baggage room and really nice showers. They also provide a towel and soap. It's literally in the airport so you can be sleeping right up until your flight leaves. It's quite comfortable in the capsule with TV, USB ports, headphones and various mood lighting options! I couldn't sleep much because I was so jet lagged but that wasn't the facilities fault. There are also other hotel facilities in the airport.

A few other suggestions based on over 50 flights from east asia to the US:
1. When at all possible, pay for an upgraded seat such as those in the emergency exit row for long flights.
2. When at all possible, do not fly US carriers. JAL, ANA and Singapore Air are way better for about the same price. Even though I was technically on American, I was actually on a code-share flight from Jakarta to Los Angeles on ANA. Once you've flown the Japanese airlines, you'll learn what service is all about.
3. If you're going to be on a boat cruising in the RA area, bring an unlocked cell phone and get a phone card in the airport. You will get reception when you get close to an island so you can send and receive messages.
4. Finally, if at all possible, do not take one of the 1 week liveaboard trips.... it's too short given how much time you're spending on flights and the time zone difference. You'll just be getting used to the time zone when it will be time to do that trip from hell all over again. I did a 12 day trip.

Wiser words have rarely been spoken!

 

[Dan]

Got a general question about Raja Ampat trips originating from the U.S. About how long in advance does one need to make the arrangements (e.g.: flight, hotel, etc...), to still get decent rates?

How many days do you usually take getting there, and how many back? I would think from the U.S. it'd be fly to an international hub (LAX?), then fly nearly a full day getting to Indonesia, crash in a hotel while your circadian clock freaks out, then fly to Raja the next day to board the boat. 3 Days? Do you make it back in 2 or 3?

Just trying to get a decent grasp of travel logistics, and thought maybe others would benefit as well.

Thanks to @Kensei & @Illini_Fan for answering the questions. As to my experience for pre-Covid trip to Raja Ampat, I booked my flight at about 6 months in advance. My last trip to Raja Ampat was in January 2020, Trip Report - Raja Ampat Jan 2020 Trip Report
I flew directly from Houston to Taipei with Eva Air (highly recommended) and Taipei to Jakarta. See Table 1 in that report for more details.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Got a general question about Raja Ampat trips originating from the U.S. About how long in advance does one need to make the arrangements (e.g.: flight, hotel, etc...), to still get decent rates?

How many days do you usually take getting there, and how many back? I would think from the U.S. it'd be fly to an international hub (LAX?), then fly nearly a full day getting to Indonesia, crash in a hotel while your circadian clock freaks out, then fly to Raja the next day to board the boat. 3 Days? Do you make it back in 2 or 3?

Just trying to get a decent grasp of travel logistics, and thought maybe others would benefit as well.

You will probably also want to build in recovery days once home too.