Guests board in four hours. The chief stew asks if the AV is ready and you say yes, because the saloon TV worked last week. At 22:00 the owner discovers the VIP cabin remote is dead, the guest wifi password has been rotated, and nobody knows the streaming login. All three were preventable in a twenty-minute walk-round.
Walk the boat, cabin by cabin
The pre-arrival AV check is a physical circuit, not a glance at one screen. In every guest space:
- Wake the panel and confirm it responds and shows the right zone.
- Power on the TV, cycle through the sources guests will use - satellite, streaming, media server - and confirm each gives picture and sound.
- Test the remote in the room. Replace batteries as a matter of routine, not when they die.
- Play audio in the zone, check left and right speakers, then return the volume to a sensible level and leave the room in its default state.
- Check lighting and blind scenes if they run on the same control system.
Then the shared spaces: saloon, dining, deck zones, gym, spa, cinema, karaoke, consoles. Run the cinema scene end to end at least once.
The IT half, which is where guests actually get upset
- Confirm the guest wifi network is broadcasting and test the current password on your own device. Passwords are rotated - between charters, at a minimum - so last trip's card is worthless.
- Check the internet link is up, and ask the ETO what to expect on this itinerary.
- Confirm the state of any streaming accounts on shared TVs, and make sure the previous guests' logins have been cleared.
- Have the guest wifi credentials presented the way your yacht does it - a card, the welcome pack, or verbally.
Snags: find them early, report them properly
| Found at check | Interior action | Escalate? |
|---|---|---|
| Flat remote battery | Replace, retest | No |
| TV on wrong input | Reselect source, leave in default | No |
| One panel unresponsive | Try the room keypad; note it | Yes, if it stays dead |
| No satellite signal | Note the heading and time | Yes, to ETO |
| Guest wifi not broadcasting | None | Yes, immediately |
| Cinema scene half-runs | Note exactly which parts failed | Yes, before guests arrive |
Anything unresolved goes to the ETO while there is still time to fix it. A snag reported four hours before arrival is a job; the same snag reported during dinner is an incident.
Onboard Notes
- Use a written checklist your yacht owns - not memory. Sign it, date it, keep it.
- The check is not done until every room is left in its default state: TV off, volume normal, lights and blinds set, remote in place.
- Do the check early enough that a fault can still be fixed. Two hours before arrival is not early.
- Record what you found and what you left outstanding - that is the beginning of a good handover.