Three days to mark a year, a promise or a birthday

For an anniversary, the first choice is the cabin. A Master has a double bed, its own bathroom with a hot shower, air conditioning, a safety box and a wide window onto the sea. The Private cabins have the same fittings with a sea view. For a milestone, choose the window.

Your choice of cabin also settles the day. Open-trip seats sail on set dates from Navila's live calendar, while a charter sails on whatever date you pick. If your anniversary falls on a date with no open-trip sailing, only a charter will sail that day.

A milestone birthday for a small party works in much the same way. Four guests fit into two cabins and share one band price on the whole boat; twelve fill all six. Any more and you would need a second boat.

With one double bed in each cabin, a couple is well served. Friends travelling together who want separate beds should ask us before booking.

If you intend to propose on board, give us thirty days. A proposal needs a place, a time of day and a decision about who else will be there. Put it in your opening message, and we will reply with what the boat can accommodate.

There is a relax area at the bow, one good spot for a quiet moment, and two hours worth considering: sunrise on Padar and dusk at Kalong. Where the boat lies, and when, is down to the captain and the weather, so we plan a first choice and a second.

Until the moment comes, the ring can wait in your cabin's safety box. Flowers, a cake, decorations or a dinner on the sand can be arranged on request, each priced in writing before anything is added.

Nothing is staged without your agreement. If the answer is no, the voyage carries on.

For an anniversary, it helps to work backwards from your date. Pick the sailing closest to it, then tell us what you would like to happen on which night.

If no sailing falls near enough, a charter gives you the whole boat on the day you choose. The calendar is then yours, and the weather is the only other voice in the decision.

A birthday for a small party brings one more option. Up to four guests can share the whole boat in the lowest band, and up to eight in the next. Since the price does not change within a band, a fourth guest adds nothing to the cost.

Book early. A seat is held as soon as the 50 percent deposit is paid.

There are two ways to pay for the same three days. Two seats in a Master cabin cost twice IDR 8,100,000 (≈ USD 497), with the guide and documentation included. The whole boat for one to four guests costs IDR 73,000,000 (≈ USD 4,479), which is IDR 36,500,000 (≈ USD 2,239) each for two.

A party of four on the whole boat pays IDR 18,250,000 (≈ USD 1,120) each, as the same band covers them. The park package, drinks, tips, flights and hotels are listed separately. Guide and documentation sit outside a charter price, and we quote them on request.

By a wide margin, the seat is the cheaper choice, and it suits a couple who want Navila without needing the whole boat. A charter suits a couple who want their own date, privacy and the deck to themselves.

The host's note. Tell us the date and the name of your hotel. We time the pickup around them, so your first hour is not spent searching for the pier.