A block of cabins on a shared sailing — cheaper, with real trade-offs
You take a set number of cabins on a vessel that is also carrying other guests. Roughly 30 to 40 percent cheaper per head than exclusive charter. What you give up is control, and it is worth being precise about exactly what that means.
What you give up, stated plainly
Every operator sells cabin blocks. Very few will list the constraints in one place before you have signed something, so here they are.
- The schedule is not yours. Departure, lunch, the cave stop, the kayak window and the morning tai chi all run on the vessel's timetable. Your team fits around it.
- The dining room is shared. Your group eats at the same time as strangers, in the same room, from the same menu. There is no company toast without an audience.
- The sun deck is shared. No stage, no backdrop, no rigging, no branding, no sound system. A deck gala is not available on a cabin block. It is not a matter of price.
- Cabin allocation is not guaranteed adjacent. We will ask, and we usually get most of it, but on a shared hull the operator balances the whole manifest.
- You may be a minority on board. A block of eight cabins on a twenty-two cabin vessel means fourteen cabins of other people. This surprises groups more than anything else on this list.
The practical test is simple: does your programme have an evening? If the answer is an awards dinner, a company announcement, a video, a band or a toast — you need a charter. If the answer is that people will have dinner and then sit on the deck with a beer, a cabin block is fine and you should not spend the difference.
What you keep
Identical
The route, the karsts, the cave, the kayaking and the anchorage are the same water and the same scenery as a charter. Nobody gets a better bay for paying more.
Identical
Same vessel, same cabin grade, same crew. On our own hulls the block cabins are the same cabins we sell under charter.
Still yours
Even on a shared sailing we put one of our own coordinators with the group. On a boat with no reliable mobile signal, that is not optional.
Sometimes
On a quiet sailing the indoor lounge can often be blocked for an hour or two for a working session. It is a request, not a contract line, and we will say which it is on your dates.
Better than charter
A block can flex by one or two cabins closer to departure. A chartered hull cannot flex at all — you have bought the ship.
30 – 40% lower
Which for a group of twenty-four on a single night is a real number, not a rounding difference. It is often the right call.
Indicative rates
Per guest, twin share, one night on the bay, including the road transfer from Hanoi, all meals in the programme, bay fees and a coordinator. VAT included.
| Guests | Cabin block, per guest | Full charter equivalent, per guest |
|---|---|---|
| 20 – 29 | 112 – 178 | 175 – 270 |
| 30 – 44 | 104 – 162 | 158 – 242 |
| 45 – 69 | Two hulls — charter usually cheaper at this point | 147 – 226 |
Above roughly forty-five guests a cabin block stops making sense. You are taking most of two vessels anyway, at which point exclusive use costs little more and gives you the deck, the schedule and the dining room. This is the one place where spending more genuinely buys more.
Questions we are asked most often
Can we upgrade from a block to a charter later?
Up to about D-45, usually yes, and we hold the difference rather than re-quoting from scratch. Inside D-45 it depends entirely on whether the remaining cabins on that hull have sold.
Will our group be split across two vessels?
Not without telling you first and not without your agreement. If a single hull cannot take the block on your dates we would rather move your date than split twenty-four people across two boats.
Can we do a private dinner on a cabin block?
Occasionally, on a quiet sailing, in a separate area of the dining room, at a fixed early or late sitting. It is not a private room and it is not a stage. If the dinner matters, charter.
Is the coordinator really necessary on a shared sailing?
Yes. Mobile coverage on the bay is patchy once you leave the main anchorages, and a group of twenty-four people who do not know the schedule, the tender times or which cave has the steps will lose someone. It costs us more to run and we include it anyway.
Where to go next
Four fields and you can send
Tell us the basics and we will come back within eight working hours with feasibility — including how many hulls your headcount actually needs — and within three working days with a detailed quote.