Free hotel and airport pickup, and events on board Princess Lala

The first thing that happens on Princess Lala is a car at your door, and it costs nothing extra. On the open trip we collect you from your hotel in Labuan Bajo or from the airport between 10:30 and 11:55 on the morning you sail, and your guide confirms the exact time the evening before. On a private charter there is no fixed slot: we come at the hour agreed with you, so a family with a slow breakfast and a group off an early flight can each have the morning they need.

Bring a soft bag rather than a hard suitcase. A cabin is built around a double bed and leaves little floor beyond it, and a soft bag is easier to place than a hard shell.

The car takes you to the harbour, the crew takes you aboard, and the cabin keys, a short safety briefing and the first lunch at the long table follow. The same service brings you back. The three-day sailing docks at 10:00 to 11:00 on day three and the transfer takes you to the airport or your hotel; the two-day open trip docks in the evening, 19:00 to 20:30, and the transfer takes you to your hotel. Land in Labuan Bajo a day ahead of your sailing, so that a delayed flight cannot cost you the boat.

The standard pickup is a car or minibus shared with the rest of your group, and for most couples and families that is all you need. If you are ten people with luggage, or three generations who would rather arrive together in one vehicle, ask for an upgrade. A Toyota HiAce seats up to 12, and a larger coach is available on request.

The upgrade is quoted separately from the fare, in writing, before you agree to anything, and it is never added to your booking quietly. To quote it we need four things: how many of you there are, how many bags, if you start at a hotel or at the airport, and the time. The answer comes within hours.

On a full private charter of up to 18 guests, one larger vehicle at the hour you chose keeps everyone together, and it is worth asking about when you book. We write the vehicle into the same message as the boat.

Everything in this part is a request, not a package. Nothing sits on a price list, because the cost follows how many of you there are, which island and the season, so we quote each one within hours, in writing.

A meeting, a company outing and a family gathering belong to a private charter, because the boat has to be yours for the day. A birthday dinner or a decorated cabin can be asked for on the open trip as well. Karaoke and the sound system are part of the charter fare.

A meeting here is a meeting around a table with a view, not in a conference room. The Wi-Fi is the crew's hotspot and drops between islands.

For a meeting the setting is the long table in the indoor dining room. Chairs run along both sides, the sea-view windows are beside you, and tea and coffee are served from the far end, so nobody leaves the room for a refill. When the agenda changes pace, the talk moves to the bow sundeck, where bean bags on green turf take the place of a boardroom chair.

A company outing runs on the normal route with the boat to yourselves, up to 18 guests and the crew looking after the day: the dragon walk with a park ranger on Komodo, a swim at Pink Beach, lunch at the stern table beside the water, karaoke once everyone is back on board.

A family gathering is the easiest of the three, because on a private charter every cabin is a double with a single beside it, which does the arithmetic for you. Every cabin takes a third guest, so parents and a child share one door, the grandparents take the canvas deck chairs on the shaded side deck, and everyone sits down to the same dinner at the long table.

Island dinners and seafood dinners are the requests we hear most. For an island dinner the table goes ashore to a beach that the captain judges right on the day and the weather allows, and the tender boat carries you in. The private version is set for your group alone, which is why it belongs to a charter. A seafood dinner stays on board at the stern table, and the grilled fish and prawns we serve on an ordinary sailing are the starting point for what we write into your quote. They are examples, not a set menu.

A birthday, a proposal or a dinner for a particular diet goes to the galley first, so ask us before you book. Decoration for a cabin or the deck is its own request, and the Cabin 6 balcony with its bench and the bow sundeck are two places that suit it.

The open-trip fare already includes a local guide and a photographer. On a private charter neither is in the fare, so a photographer is a request, quoted separately, and a drone in the park needs a permit, which is one more reason to ask early.