Banda islands ... getting there, logistics, Ramadan

# 8 (Laszlo): My recommendation was to FLY from Jakarta to Makasar, and to then take the PELNI SHIP from Makasar to Ambon. See # 6 above.

That's right.
So we agree on that one. :-)

Good, that's one thing settled then! ;-) Actually I'd noticed Mistersteve recommended Makassar too, definitely seems to be the way to go.

Has anyone got any idea about how long I'd need to be in Makassar before the ferry leaves to book a cabin? Would a day or two be enough?

Just had a brainwave, dodo the penman is a name I've often seen recommended in connection with Makassar. He might know and also be up to date on ferry schedules? I've just emailed him anyway...will post again if he replies in case anyone else needs current ferry info.

You can usually book cabins even once on the ship! ;-)

I take it that means I'll just have to apply my very dubious charms and 10 words of Bahasa with the crew members to get them to let me have one of their cabins? Hmmm, delete members, or that will be horribly misconstrued but I'm ever so good at sign language. This trip is going to be very memorable and fun, I can tell. ;-)

???
Nobody rents crew cabins on Pelni ships!
What are all the various classes for?
Everything above Ekonomi (or Kelas III Wisata, not offered on those 2 ships) is in a cabin.

Sorry Laszlo I'm rather a novice (as you've probably gathered) ...only been to Indonesia twice and I've never actually travelled on a Pelni boat yet.

I did try to find out if there was a Pelni ferry from Gorontalo to Luwuk during Ramadan last year. The Pelni office in Gorontalo assured me that there was....there had been a boat that had left the previous week... but they didn't know when the next one would be, some time within the next month they thought.

I have travelled overnight on two Indonesian ferries so far.

One was a small wooden boat called the Puspita. They had a few minute airless cabins with 4 bunks @90,000Rp/bunk or you could sleep on "shelves" on deck without paying a supplement. I thought the shelves were the better option as the bedding in the cabins (which were also used by the crew) didn't look that clean and there were the remnants of several meals on the floor.

The Puspita cancelled the next week's sailing (because of Ramadan) so there were no boats back for two weeks from Katupat. However my resort owner kindly took us to Wakai in his outrigger boat as there was a ferry leaving from there. The name of the ship escapes me but was a bigger ship, quite modern and made of metal, not wood. The resort owner recommended that we pay a crew member for the use of his cabin ... MUCH better deal. 50,000Rp for a large clean cabin with two beds which even had a wash hand basin. The crew members in question didn't seem to mind sleeping on deck at all...in fact they looked delighted. My apologies, in my ignorance I assumed that's what your wink in #14 meant!

Indeed, crew member cabins might be the only ones available on smaller, local ships, but rest assured that travelling on Pelni ones is an entirely different experience. I think you might be pleasantly surprised! For one thing, it's all air-con (even Ekonomi). Also, many cabins do have windows.