A practical dive trip checklist runs on a timeline: what you set when you post the trip, what you collect in the weeks before, what you confirm in the last few days, what the dive trip manifest has to show on the morning of, and what you do when weather moves a departure. Finish each stage on time and the dock becomes a head count instead of a paperwork session.
It works for a two-tank local boat dive and a week-long travel trip alike; the travel trip just has more on each list. Each step covers the general practice first, then how it works in Ribbe, the dive shop software that runs trips, courses, rentals and retail on one customer record. For the full picture, start with our guide to dive shop software.
Most trip-day problems start with a listing that went live with something missing. Settle these before the first seat sells.
Set the seat count from the boat's capacity and your staff-to-diver ratio, not from what you hope to sell. Decide the departure time, the duration and, for regular boat dives, which days it runs.
In Ribbe: a trip is a ticket product with a bookable schedule: start time, duration, seats per departure and run days. Each departure keeps its own seat count and sells online and at the counter. Individuals and groups can book, and a group's name shows on the manifest. More on tours and tickets in Ribbe.
Decide the deposit and when the balance is due, and put both in the trip description. As an example, say a week-long trip is $2,000: a 25% deposit at booking and the balance 60 days out leaves time to resell a seat if someone drops. A local boat dive is often simpler paid in full.
In Ribbe: at the counter, take a partial payment as the deposit. Online checkout can take a set percentage deposit, configured once for the shop. On the trip's booking option, the Trip & Charter Settings panel holds the balance due date as a number of days before departure.
"The marina" is not a meeting point. Name the dock or slip, the arrival time (earlier than the departure), where to park and what to bring: c-card, logbook, sunscreen, seasickness medication if needed.
In Ribbe: meeting point and pre-trip notes are fields in the same Trip & Charter Settings panel. They feed the pre-trip reminder, so guests get exactly what you wrote.
Ask for what the trip needs and nothing more. A local boat dive may only need an emergency contact and medical notes. A trip abroad usually needs passport number, expiry, date of birth and nationality for the resort, airline or boat operator.
In Ribbe: you build your travel forms once under Templates, using date and short-text questions. A shop might keep a full travel form (passport number, passport expiry, date of birth, nationality, emergency contact, dietary and medical notes) and a shorter one for local charters. Then pick which form each trip's booking option requests.
Ribbe booking option for a dive trip with the Trip & Charter Settings panel
A dive trip's booking option with the Trip & Charter Settings panel: travel form, balance due days before departure, meeting point and pre-trip notes.
If the trip is for certified divers only, decide that now and say so on the listing.
In Ribbe: any product can make the dive certificate required. Turn it on for the trip and the register and online checkout ask for a photo of the diver's c-card when they book.
Passport details take longer than you'd think, and now and then a guest discovers theirs expires too soon. For travel trips, send the form request soon after booking with a clear due date, so there's time to chase.
In Ribbe: open the manifest for the trip's date, or the departure on the calendar, and send the travel form request by email or text in one click. Each guest fills theirs in on their own phone from the link: every named guest on the booking, or the lead booker when no guests are named. The manifest shows each booking's form status as none, pending or done, and staff can open the answers right from the manifest.
Ribbe travel form template editor with passport, nationality, emergency contact and medical questions
A travel form template with questions for passport number, passport expiry, nationality, emergency contact, and dietary and medical notes.
Send the balance reminder a week or so before the due date, not on it. An early, friendly reminder leaves room for the guest whose card was replaced.
In Ribbe: filter the manifest to balance owing and send the balance reminder from each row in one click. The message carries the trip, date and balance due. Every send is logged and the manifest shows reminder status, so nobody chases the same guest twice. The reminder tells the guest what's owed; you collect the payment the way you do today.
Two or three days out, send every booking the meeting point, arrival time and what to bring. It cuts the morning-of phone calls and catches the guest who booked the wrong date.
In Ribbe: send the pre-trip reminder from the manifest or the calendar, by email or text, one click per booking. The template carries the trip name, date, time, guests, meeting point, your pre-trip notes, any balance due and the travel form link. Make it a habit: every afternoon, open the next three days' manifests and send whatever hasn't gone out.
A wet clipboard on a rocking deck is the wrong place to sign a release. Get waivers done before the day.
In Ribbe: divers sign digital waivers online when they book, on their own phone, or on a tablet at the counter. The waiver library includes an editable Scuba & Snorkel Gear Rental release to start from; adapt it with your legal adviser. The manifest shows waiver status for every booking, and the waiver missing filter gives you the list to follow up. See digital waivers in Ribbe.
Confirm each diver's certification before trip day, especially for dives with depth or experience requirements. Finding out at the dock is too late.
In Ribbe: the customer record holds the diver's certification number, agency and a photo of the card. Divers add it online during booking, or staff show a QR code at the counter and take the photo on a phone. If the diver certified in one of your courses, marking them Certified fills in the number and agency for you (more in our post on dive course management software). Ribbe stores the card but doesn't check certification level, so for a deep or advanced trip, staff confirm the level from the card on file.
If the earlier stages went well, the morning is a confirmation, not a scramble. The manifest shows what's done and catches what slipped.
In Ribbe: the manifest is a report for a day or a date range. It lists every departure with who's booked, headcount, parties, check-in, waiver, balance, travel form and reminder status. Tiles count departures, guests, parties, check-ins, missing waivers and balance due, and readiness meters track checked in, waiver signed, paid in full and confirmation sent.
Ribbe manifest report for a day with departure, guest, check-in, waiver and balance tiles and readiness meters
The manifest for one day: departures, guests, parties, check-ins, waivers missing and balance due, with a guests-by-day chart and readiness meters.
Filter to the gaps. Use the not checked in, waiver missing and balance owing filters to see who needs attention before boarding.
Print the manifest. Print it, save it as a PDF or export it to CSV. Keep one copy on the boat and leave one ashore with someone who knows when you're due back.
Check guests in as they arrive and watch the checked-in meter fill.
Count heads against the manifest before leaving the dock and after every dive.
Departures on a Ribbe manifest with each booking, customer, headcount, items, status, check-in and waiver
Departures on the manifest: each booking with the customer, headcount, items, status, check-in and waiver.
Weather calls come with running boat dives. What hurts is handling them guest by guest at six in the morning.
Set a call time, such as 6 p.m. the evening before, and tell guests when they'll hear from you.
Write a weather policy (rebook first, then credit or refund) and put it in the trip description.
Give every guest the same message.
In Ribbe: move or cancel the whole departure from the calendar instead of editing each booking. For a moved trip, open the manifest for the new date and send the pre-trip reminder again, so each guest has the new details. Refunds or credits follow your own policy; a gift card is one way to hold a credit.
When you post the trip
Seats per departure, from boat capacity and staff ratio
Departure time, duration and run days
Deposit and balance due date
Meeting point, arrival time and pre-trip notes
Travel form chosen
Dive certificate required, if certified only
Travel form request sent to every booking
Form status checked: none, pending or done
Balance reminders sent before the due date
Pre-trip reminder sent to every booking
Missing waivers chased
C-card on file for every diver, level confirmed where it matters
Manifest printed, one copy left ashore
Open items cleared: check-in, waivers, balances
Head count matches the manifest before leaving the dock
If weather hits
Call made by your set time
Departure moved or cancelled on the calendar
Pre-trip reminder resent for the new date
Refund or credit handled per your written policy
From the manifest. From a manifest row or the departure on the calendar, one click sends the travel form request, the balance reminder or the pre-trip reminder by email or text. Each send is logged and the manifest shows reminder status, so you can see at a glance who still needs one.
Move or cancel the whole departure from the calendar rather than booking by booking. For a moved trip, resend the pre-trip reminder from the new date's manifest so guests have the new date and time. How you refund or credit guests follows your own weather policy.
Only what the trip needs. Travel abroad usually means passport details, date of birth, nationality, an emergency contact, and dietary and medical notes; a local charter may need just the last two. In Ribbe you build each form under Templates and pick which one each trip requests.
Not yet. The balance reminder tells the guest the amount due along with the trip details, but it doesn't include a payment link. You take the balance the way you do now, and the manifest shows it cleared once it's paid.
Not automatically. You can make the c-card photo required on a trip, so the booking asks for it, and the card, number and agency stay on the customer record. Staff confirm the level from the card on file.
Run your dive trips from one manifest Trips, travel forms, waivers, c-cards and balances on the same customer record as your courses, air cards and rentals. Try it with your own trips. Start a free trial