Sulawesi liveaboard cost: published fares, route by route, and what they leave out

By Sulawesi Liveaboard Editorial Desk

Sourced figures: prices in the table carry their source and check month. Published fares are not our offers, and fees change.

A Sulawesi liveaboard has no single market price. Published fares move with the boat, route, cabin and year, so the honest answer is the price table on this page plus the extras each operator lists on top. A usable budget starts with one named departure, one cabin type and that boat's own add-ons.

What do published Sulawesi fares look like?

They look like nine separate facts from seven sellers, listed in this page's table of published prices. Each row has its own unit, year and route. The guide below says what each row measures, because the number means little until you know that. Treat the rows as the named sellers' figures. None of them is an offer from us, and the site does not publish trips of its own.

One row is printed oddly. King Neptune's single-cabin figure sits below its shared-cabin figure, while Mermaid I's single cabin is the top of its list. We show the row as the source prints it and base no advice on it, so check the units on Neptune's page before using either number.

Why is there no single average price?

There is none because no one publishes one, and the fares do not measure the same thing. This one table holds an 8-night round trip, a West Papua crossing, a snorkelling expedition and a yacht priced by the night. Averaging those gives a number that describes no trip anyone can buy. Five differences explain why:

• Length. Mermaid's schedule runs Lembeh, Togian and back as 12 days and 11 nights in February 2027 and 2028, then as 10 days and 9 nights in February 2029. One route, two lengths.
• Cabin. A single Mermaid I departure carries four cabin prices, from lower deck to single. Choosing a cabin moves your cost before you change anything else.
• Start and finish. Neptune One starts at Alor and Seahorse starts at Sorong, so a large part of what you pay for may lie outside Sulawesi. The routes page lists each trip's ports.
• Activity. Oceanic Society sells an expedition built around snorkelling, and its fare sits beside dive trips only because the route touches Gorontalo.
• Unit. Wakatobi's page prices Pelagian per person per night and sells activities apart, whereas most other rows are per trip.

The size of the market adds a further problem. LiveAboard.com lists 23 liveaboards for Sulawesi, and the same site lists 3 for Wakatobi. PADI Travel lists 8 for Southeast Sulawesi. These are listing counts from different marketplaces with different region labels, and one boat can appear on several pages. An average across so few listings would swing with whichever long trip happens to be on sale. Sulawesi prices are published per boat and per trip, with no budget, mid-range or luxury categories to sort them into. The Sulawesi liveaboard guide shows how cost fits with route and season.

How should per-night figures be compared?

Compare them only after you have made both trips the same shape. Dividing a fare by nights is tempting, but it tells you nothing if one fare carries extras the other leaves out. Work through this order:

1. Match the cabin type. Set a shared lower-deck cabin against another shared lower-deck cabin. White Manta adds 20% for single occupancy, so a solo traveller's figure is a different calculation. The single-cabin guide goes through this.
2. Match the extras. Add fuel, park and port fees and any nitrox you will use to both fares, or leave them off both.
3. Divide by nights, not days. A trip sold as 12 days holds 11 nights. Use one rule for every trip you compare.
4. Check that diving is inside the figure. Pelagian's nightly rate excludes its activity package, so a straight comparison with a divided all-in fare would flatter it.
5. Keep to one season. This table runs from 2027 to 2028. Set a 2027 departure against a 2027 departure where you can. Calm months differ by region too, as the month guide shows.
6. Count diving days. Where a trip page states them, a second division by diving days is a fair cross-check on the first.

The closest thing to a clean test in this table is Mermaid I against Mermaid II: same operator, route and dates. Even there the cabin names only partly match between the two boats, so ask for cabin sizes and berth layouts before calling them equals.

What sits on top of the fare?

Usually a good deal, and the list changes by operator. Neptune's Wakatobi guide says fares on its trips exclude park, port and environment fees, some fuel surcharges, rental gear, alcohol and tips. La Galigo places visas, port clearances, and ranger, anchorage, village and marine park fees outside the fare. Mikumba Diving lists national park, port and local government fees as one rupiah charge paid on arrival. The full line-by-line account is in what a Sulawesi liveaboard price includes and leaves out, and the smaller items are in the guide to extra charges besides the fare.

Two points affect the fares above directly. First, the Mermaid rows are 2027 departures, while Mermaid's fuel page fixes its surcharge for 2026 and says it may change from 2027. Confirm the figure that applies to your date. Second, park fees are unsettled in places. Government Regulation 36 of 2024 sets the environment and forestry ministry's non-tax tariffs, and Neptune's fee guide says Wakatobi rates were revised under it and that locally quoted figures have not always kept pace. Those sources state no current Wakatobi or Togian fee, so the marine park fee guide sticks to what operators publish.

How much should you budget for one trip?

Pick one departure, then fill in these lines from that operator's own pages.

1. Fare for your cabin on your date.
2. Fuel surcharge, including any change the operator reserves the right to make.
3. Park, port and harbour fees for that route.
4. Nitrox and rental gear, if you need them.
5. Tips, and any handling charge on paying onboard.
6. Visa and insurance, which some operators make compulsory.
7. International and domestic flights, the airport transfer and a hotel night before boarding.

Line 7 is the weakest. Domestic flights to Manado, Baubau, Wangi-Wangi, Luwuk or Gorontalo, a Manado to Bitung transfer and pre-boarding hotels have no dated prices we can show. Mikumba lists airport or hotel pick-up in its package; for other boats, ask yours. Get the rest from a current quote and leave a margin. If the total looks high for one area, price a resort stay on the same lines.

Hold an offer from us to the same seven lines, then to the operator checklist. We have a commercial interest in that outcome, and the contact page explains how an offer from us works.

Which figures are marketplace ranges and which are operator fares?

Only the LiveAboard.com row is a marketplace range, and the rest come from the seller of the trip. The difference decides how much weight each one can carry.

• Marketplace range. The two ends describe the lowest and highest trips on a listing page. They help you judge the spread of what is on sale, and they cannot tell you what your trip costs.
• Operator schedule fare. Mermaid's rows are tied to a named boat and date. For a decision, this is the kind of row to rely on, after checking that it is still current.
• Starting fare. La Galigo's, Oceanic Society's and Wallacea Dive Cruise's rows begin with "from". Ask what cabin and season that figure buys.
• Operator guide figure. Both Neptune rows come from a blog guide. Confirm them against a live schedule before you plan around them.
• Nightly rate. Pelagian's row needs the activity package added before it can stand beside any trip total.

Where a marketplace and an operator disagree on the same departure, trust the operator's current page and ask both about the gap.

What do readers ask about these fares?

How much does a Sulawesi liveaboard cost?

It depends on the boat, cabin, route and year, so start from the figures in this page's price table. No source publishes a single market rate for Sulawesi, so price one named departure and add that operator's extras.

Is the lowest marketplace figure a realistic budget?

No. It marks the bottom of a per-trip range across every listed trip, and the page gives no sign of its length, cabin or date. Use it to see the spread of the market, not to plan spending.

Do published fares include fuel?

Not always. Mermaid's rows on this page leave out its fuel surcharge, and other operators list fuel separately or keep the right to add it later. Read the fare notes for your exact departure.

Can a per-night rate be set beside a trip total?

Yes, once you convert the total and match what each covers. Divide the trip total by its nights, use the same cabin type, and add any activity package that the nightly rate leaves out.

Are these prices offers from this site?

No. Every row comes from a public page run by the seller named, with its source and checking month. None of them is an offer from us, and sellers can change their figures at any time.

Which sources support this page?

• LiveAboard.com: Sulawesi
• LiveAboard.com: Wakatobi listing
• PADI Travel: Southeast Sulawesi
• Mermaid Liveaboards: Mermaid I schedule and rates
• Mermaid Liveaboards: Mermaid II schedule and rates
• Mermaid fuel surcharge
• La Galigo: Sangihe, Bangka and Lembeh route
• La Galigo: Bangka, Lembeh and Sangihe trip
• Neptune Liveaboards: Wakatobi liveaboard guide
• Neptune Liveaboards: Indonesia park fees and visa
• Wallacea Dive Cruise: Raja Ampat, Halmahera, Lembeh, 11 nights
• Oceanic Society: Halmahera to Sulawesi
• Wakatobi Dive Resort, prices
• White Manta, schedule
• JDIH BPK: Government Regulation 36 of 2024
• Mikumba Diving: Sulawesi trip information and sample itineraries

How do I reach the desk?

Send the operator, departure and cabin you are pricing to WhatsApp +62 811-3941-4563 or bd@juaraholding.com, and the desk will answer from the published sources.