Trip report, August 2025:

I recently spent 3 days in Montevideo and did a round trip on the ferry from Buenos Aires. I booked business class both ways, for not a whole lot more. I had seen comments here and in other Google search hits, as well as a personal recommendation, that the fare might be cheaper booked through the UY site vs the AR site, but at least the way I was searching for it in July, it was actually slightly cheaper to book via AR.

The day before the trip, I received an email invitation to try out a new web check-in service that they are rolling out. Following the link listed the travel in both directions, though at the time I figured only outbound would be accessible and didn't bother trying the return (perhaps I should have, just to see what happens...) this resulted in a generated QR code. In the meantime, I discovered that the 25th was Uruguay's Independence Day, so it was good that I booked in advance.*

Opinions between Google, my driver from EZE to downtown, and the concierge at my day room hotel, all seemed divided on how early I should show up, but given probable crowds, I decided to play it safe. Upon arriving at the terminal the following day, the web QR code permitted me to skip the looooong check-in line (even for business class) and go directly upstairs to security. Even with the crowds, this was probably too conservative though; I ended up having a snack and a beer at the cafe downstairs waiting for lines on the 15:15 departure to Colonia del Sacramento to go through first. With about an hour to go before the scheduled 16:00 departure, I headed upstairs through the cursory security check and then joined the throng for immigration. It took about 20 minutes to complete all formalities, including, the line I was in happened only to have AR migraciones staff, so after being stamped out of Argentina they directed me to go back to one of the other booths that had Uruguay officers to get stamped in. So in hindsight being there 1 hr in advance would probably have been fine even on a heavy travel day, given no vehicle or checked luggage (I only had a backpack and a small shoulder bag, but saw people with plane-cabin-sized rollaboards) and a web boarding pass.

After immigration I was permitted into the "business class lounge" -- picture something scraping the bottom of the barrel for Priority Pass, made worse on this day by it being severely crowded, plus families taking up more space than needed with luggage on seats and/or people lying across couches taking up spots that could have been used by other passengers. There was a small coffee/snacks stand at the back of the lounge, which also had some restrooms. The only advantage here was being allowed to board early; business class (and first) have dedicated areas on board, so even that isn't a huge plus. During boarding we passed by a larger restaurant/dining area which is apparently where non-biz pax wait for boarding; of course I don't know how crowded /that/ was but it seemed more spacious anyway.

Seats on board were decent, had a good amount of recline, and also a footrest; from Googling the seats in Clase Turista aren't noticeably worse, just minus the footrest? Large areas with seats in pairs, plus a section of circular tables near the snack bar (I only got drinks but the food options look reasonable given the context) for groups of ~4. For people who like window seats on airplanes like I do, there's not much to see on this trip, so the only real reason for the window seat here is that there are power outlets along the outer wall. There was a wifi network but it was password-protected and based on search results it was questionable whether anything would work except messaging anyway, so I used the downtime to nap and/or listen to podcasts. There is a short period of cellular signal available departing Buenos Aires, then you pick it up again sporadically approaching Uruguay, before it comes back for good as you near Montevideo.

Shortly before actual arrival, an announcement is made for those with cars to please head down to their vehicles; upon docking first class gets to exit first, then business, and then the rest. We left Buenos Aires late, closer to 16:30 (I am guessing due to extra crowds and delays in turnign the ferry which added up throughout the day), and also took 3 hours (vs. the scheduled 2.5) to make the crossing. A non-FT friend was on the first ferry of the morning the following day and reported they left pretty much on time but it was still basically 3h until disembarkment. So, I would be sure to leave adequate buffer time between ferry arrival and anything important that you might want to attend.

For the return trip a few days later, I tried using the same web check-in email link for the return trip but was told it was ineligible (so now I am curious whether I could actually have done web check-in for both directions prior to the outbound). It was naturally much less crowded, plus, the lounge space is slightly better departing MVD (and also had free coffee, which there might well have been in the outbound direction as well but I didn't ask, whereas it was proactively offered here). As with the outbound, I picked the "wrong" immigration line and had to go to two different booths to get my passport stamped (vs. just visiting two sides of the same booth if I'd picked the "correct" line -- no complaints here, just being descriptive ).

*aforementioned friend was due to travel to Colonia the day before and then meet me in MVD, but he got IRROPed overnight from the US and arrived 12 hours late. He then tried to pivot to going directly to Montevideo on 25 Aug but was told they were completely sold out for the entire day and no standby was possible so he gave up and took the early morning ferry on the 26th. I don't know if there was a language barrier issue and/or they cater more to locals but while the ferry was quite full, it did seem to me like there were a couple available seats... maybe last-minute no-shows