Passenger Ships in Indonesia: What You Need to Know!

As a maritime nation, Indonesia has to connect all these islands somehow. It’s no secret that domestic civil aviation there is a tad unreliable, comparatively expensive, and with a questionable safety record. But what about ships?

Indonesia has a comprehensive network of sea routes between important ports everywhere around the archipelago. It can be hard to overlook it – most of us coming from land-based countries are used to planes, buses, and trains and only think of ships when it comes to cruises.

But passenger ships in Indonesia are not cruises. Even the private ships are far from the luxury, comfort, and range of facilities of modern cruises, whereas the public PELNI ferries are not much more than water-bound buses.

This is by no means a comprehensive guide to all routes, ships, and companies in Indonesia but you will find important information about booking ferries and long-distance ships in Indonesia, life on board, and my recent experience traveling by ship from Surabaya (Java) to Ende (Flores).

Popular passenger ship routes in Indonesia

If you think of two big port cities in Indonesia, they are likely connected by a passenger ship.

Java has the two biggest ports: Tanjung Priok in Jakarta and Tanjung Perak in Surabaya. Confusingly similar names, right?

From Jakarta, you can sail to many places in the north, such as Pontianak in Kalimantan, Batam, and even as far as Belawan near Medan.

From Surabaya, you have even more choice of destinations – very many places in eastern Indonesia. Ports like Batulicin (near Banjarmasin, Kalimantan), Makassar in Sulawesi, Benoa in Bali, Ampenan in Lombok, Bima in Sumbawa, Labuan Bajo, Ende, Maumere, Kupang, and further afield even as far as Papua.

Really, the number of routes is too many to list all. When you add shorter routes between smaller islands (like Labuan Bajo to Makassar for example) it becomes a whopping amount of information.

Passenger ferry ship companies

1. PELNI

The biggest ferry company with the most routes is the government-owned PELNI (Pelayaran Nasional Indonesia).

PELNI’s website has an English version though leaves a lot to be desired in terms of user-friendliness. Good luck finding what ship sails to where and on what date. It’s not impossible – it’s just unnecessarily hard and frustrating. But yeah, use the website to find routes and book a ticket.

PELNI is perhaps the best-known ferry provider and the one most people use.

Note that ferry schedules are released no earlier than a month before the date of departure.

2. ASDP Indonesia Ferry

Another government-owned company that focuses on providing transport between adjacent islands (Like between Bali and Java) and opening up new routes between islands close to each other.

Check out ASDP’s website for more information.

3. Dharma Lautan Utama (DLU)

DLU is one of the better private companies for long-distance passenger ferries.

When I say better, I mean their ships are newer, with more facilities (though not much more), and ostensibly better run. They still suffer from the same disorganization, frustrating booking experience, delays, and bare-bones offerings. This is the ferry company I booked with for my trip from Surabaya (Java) to Ende (Flores).

Use DLU’s Google Play app to see routes and times, and book a ticket.

Can you take a motorcycle/car on the ferry?

Yes, pretty much all ferries allow vehicles on board.

Of course, you will have to pay extra for this privilege. A rough estimate is that a motorcycle costs around the same as a berth in Economy class whereas a car is 3 times that.

There are generally no rules forbidding the transportation of a rental vehicle between islands or between provinces though the owners may not be very happy with it.

How to Book Tickets

You can try your luck with the ship companies’ respective websites or apps.

I know for a fact that PELNI’s website is horrible and clunky to use. You may actually find Easybook’s listings of ferries easier to navigate.

For DLU, booking a ticket through the app is relatively straightforward if not for the fact that not all classes are listed and ship routes are a mess. For example, we booked out tickets through the DLU app but the VIP cabins were not listed there, even though they exist and were occupied during sailing.

This brings me to my final point here: frankly, booking in person at the port may actually be the easiest, if you can go there at least a day in advance. Unless you’re traveling during Lebaran (Eid Mubarak, or the end of Ramadan – a super busy travel period in Indonesia), the chance of a ferry being sold out is slim to none.

You can also contact the respective company or port via WhatsApp and ask for up-to-date information and to reserve a ticket.

The Experience on the Ship

Your experience can be different. It depends on the ship, of course.

We sailed on the Dharma Rucitra VIII, a DLU ship, from Surabaya to Ende. This was our experience.

Managing Expectations

I had seen pictures of people crammed in a hall with berths (if at all) traveling for days in a sweat-filled, hot&humid, noisy, and cigarette-smoke-heavy environment akin to a refugee camp on a PELNI ship.

Although it would’ve been a truly authentic experience, a privately run ship (DLU) with more amenities was more to my liking. The budget plus option.

But these are far from luxurious cruise ships. They have been stripped of almost all facilities, and the experience is minimized to basically just traveling.

Slow, monotonous sailing, interrupted only by the Islamic call to prayer and the announcements for the arrival of the meals.

Boring but in a charming way.

The Beds and the Berths

We opted for a double cabin thinking this is what couples take. Turns out they call it double because it’s 2 bunk beds, one above the other. A single cabin, on the other hand, sleeps two. Go figure.

The ship also has 9 VIP rooms that cost almost double the cabins but cannot be booked online. When we boarded and asked if an upgrade was at all possible, we found out that the VIP rooms were all sold out. How – don’t ask. It’s Indonesia, these things work in mysterious ways.

Anyway, back to the cabins. This is apparently the most “luxurious” option after the VIP rooms. Rows upon rows of wooden boxes equipped with a privacy curtain and nothing but a thin mattress inside. No sheets, not even blankets (and the AC is set at 18, mind you), though you can rent one for 50.000 IDR (~3 EUR).

These cabins cost ~750.000 IDR (~45 EUR) per person, including the meals – a staple of rice with a varied protein source and a different sambal (spicy sauce) + a piece of fruit. Lackluster but nutritious enough.

The lowest class you can travel in consists of rows of barely reclinable armchairs. I believe the price was around 180.000 IDR (~10 EUR), also including the meals.

The journey from Surabaya to Ende took ~35 hours.

The ship itself

There’s not much to do on the ship but read, watch TV (or a movie), or watch out towards land. For most of the route, the ship is barely 10 km from land – even the mobile signal is sometimes good enough for an internet connection.

The gym – locked 24/7. Same with the karaoke room. The auditorium had a very tacky entertainment program by singers who had been lied to about their singing abilities. Thanks but no thanks.

But roaming the ship was fun. By now my Indonesian is good enough for a basic conversation and interactions with other travelers were fun.

On the second night, I got deep into the bowels of the ship and stumbled upon a smoky gamblers’ room. The men of Flores (who made up most of the passengers) love to gamble. I would’ve joined, had I known the rules – it looked like a combination of domino with poker.

Getting out and back to my cabin was embarrassingly difficult – I ain’t no Theseus, to put it that way.

Can you get seasick?

The ferry was quite stable for all of the journey. I could barely feel its movement.

I don’t suppose such a big ship shakes much even in windy weather. And I don’t think they will run it through a tropical storm on purpose.

It almost doesn’t feel like you’re on a ship. So you probably won’t get seasick, even if you’re otherwise prone to it.

The verdict?

Low-key pleasant but otherwise meh. It’s passenger transport, Simon, what did you expect?!

It’s a little cheaper than a flight, though it takes much longer. Unless you absolutely love the ocean and sailing, you’d be better off flying an hour or two and then enjoying coconuts on land.