Aboard Navila: what is on board, cabin by cabin and deck by deck

This is a desk review, and I say so first: I have not boarded Navila. What follows is the boat as her specifications and photographs describe her, with the detail each picture adds.

The result is a tour in the order a guest meets the boat: the cabins first, then the deck and the dining room, the safety kit, and last the engine, power and water that keep it all running.

Navila has six cabins: two Master and four Private. Each has an en-suite bathroom with a hot shower, air conditioning and a safety box, and each has one double bed.

Every cabin photograph shows the bed on a raised teak platform, with reading lamps, ceiling spotlights, a towel folded on the cover, a welcome card and a carafe with glasses. The Master cabins have a wide window with a roller blind, set to look straight onto the water. The Private cabins have a rectangular window above the bed, with a latch. A carved wooden grille sits above the bed in the Master frames and in Private Cabin 6, with a wall remote beside the bed in the Master cabins.

Each Master cabin takes one extra guest, which is how the boat reaches fourteen on a charter. Private cabins sleep two.

The jacuzzi is a white corner tub set into the teak deck, with several jets, steps up to it, cushions around it and two rolled towels on the seat. The 2027 charter facility list names it as well.

The front relax area appears in seven frames: two long sofas facing each other under a canvas awning, small teak tables and woven lamps. The middle area has four canvas deck chairs on a slatted teak deck, with paddleboards stowed beside them. At the back, the lounge has a long sofa along the rail, a low table, a smart television on the wall, an amplifier and a player below it, and a hanging chair. This is where karaoke and the home theatre are.

The dining room is a long teak table laid with napkins and glasses, rattan chairs on one side and a cushioned bench under the windows on the other. The windows open on latches, and at the far end stand a drinks refrigerator and a clock. Starlink internet is on board, and its signal depends on where the boat is.

Navila carries life jackets, life buoys and fire extinguishers. She navigates with a Garmin 585 GPS and a VHF radio, and carries a dinghy, the tender, built for 16 persons.

• Life buoys: two orange life rings hang from lines on the foredeck posts, and they appear again in the bow photograph.
• Life jackets: included in every fare, together with the snorkelling sets.
• Fire extinguishers: part of the safety list on every voyage.
• Tender: a dinghy for 16 persons takes guests ashore at the landings.
• GPS and VHF: a Garmin 585 for position and a VHF radio for contact with the harbour and other boats.

Behind the kit stands a crew of six, led by a cruise director, which is about one crew member for every two guests on a full boat.

The hull is ironwood and teak, built in South Sulawesi. The main engine is a 6D22, and the cruising speed is 8 to 11 knots. Power comes from a 22.5 kVA generator with a silent genset beside it, and fresh water is carried in 6,000 litres.

The boat is 28 m long with a 5.5 m beam. That is small enough to feel like a private house on the water, and wide enough for a jacuzzi on deck and a dining table long enough for the whole party.

Put together, the list describes a small boat with a lot fitted into it: a bathroom behind each of six doors, a jacuzzi and three relax areas, a long dining table, and the safety and navigation kit a crew of six works with.

If you are weighing Navila against other boats, the cabins page sets each cabin out and the vessel page lists the figures. For a first look at the deck, the photo gallery has every picture.

The host's note. Send us your cabin plan when you write: who takes the Master cabin and who would like the Private cabins at the quiet end. One message settles it.