I am posting this in General Europe because it really concerns more than one country...in fact several as many people take this ferry to access not only Montenegro but Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia and to take the great train ride from Bar to Belgrade.
So if you are planning on taking this ferry in the future or just planning a trip I hope some of this helps:
The Ferry is no longer run by Montenegro Lines as it was in the past. The Bari-Bar Ferry is now run and ticketed by Jadroljinia Ferry Lines using the Ship Dubrovnik.
I took this ferry last night (the 19th of June) and it was a fine trip. It was clean and all in good order and quite comfortable. I did have a cabin with a Bathroom and shower as I have given up travelling deck class years ago.
BUT there is some important information one should know before hand.
If you show up at the Montenegro Lines offices at the Ferry dock no tickets are sold there. They are all sold about 2 KM away, but still in the port complex and can be reached by a free white shuttle bus. So you will have to go to the ticket office get your tickets then return to the ferry dock. Even if you have booked online as I did you need to take your online “ticket/receipt” to this office to pick up your actual tickets and boarding documents.
Leave yourself plenty of time!. Although the shuttle is suppposed to run every ten minutes the driver has the bad habit of waiting at certain stops for the truck drivers who use the shuttle to go in and process their paperwork. The shuttle was taking close to 45 minutes to return to the Ferry dock. Meet this bus at the bus stop that is in front of the ferry dock building. There is a baggage check office at the ferry dock where you can store your bags. 4Euro each (3 bags was 10 Euro.)
The boarding/passport check/emigration lines are very long, hot and crowded. There are two lines marked UE (for European Union) and ALL PASSPORTS If you have a US, EU or Great Britain passport you want to use the UE line. This line is much much shorter and better organized for some reason. My guess is that the distinction is based on the need or not for visas. However there is no sign to this affect and now one tells you.
The waiting hall is very hot and stuffy and it is much much more comfortable aboard the ship at the bar so it is a pretty good idea to get in line early to escape the madness of the boarding hall.
For my trip Boarding did not start until 8 PM for a 9 PM departure and the ship actually left the dock about 10:30 (but arrived in Bar on time)
I booked this online from the Montenegro lines web site. But due to differences between their ships and the one being used by Jadrolijnia there was a price discrepancy and a cabin name difference.
But while my cabin was not called a deluxe outside Cabin with WC and Shower by Jadrolinija it had all of the same amenities and in fact was just that; a deluxe outside with wc and shower.
We had a good trip the ship was fine, food and drinks were not overly expensive as one might expect, our cabin was spotless and had an excellent bathroom. Breakfast was ham and eggs and bread with all of the American style coffee you can drink for 6 Euros and the docking procedure at Bar was worth the price of admission alone.