New Rules Force Royal Caribbean to Change Its Lisbon Shore Excursion
If you're booked on Liberty of the Seas' Mystical Wells tour to Sintra, expect a five-hour excursion instead of four, with a public bus ride between the parking lot and city center included in your tour cost. Check whether this affects same-day specialty dining or spa reservations in Lisbon. The regulation took effect July 8, 2027, and likely applies to other lines' Sintra tours too. If you'd rather skip the change, contact your ship's shore excursion desk for alternatives.
Sintra's ban on commercial buses in its center is a local traffic fix, but it's Royal Caribbean's guests eating the extra hour. My read is the cruise line had little choice here — the regulation applies citywide, hitting land-based tour operators and rival lines like Celebrity, MSC, and Norwegian too, not just Royal Caribbean. The guide covering the public bus fare directly, folded into the existing tour price, is a small mercy, but the unanswered question is capacity: what happens when a 25-person group meets a public bus with 15 open seats? That's the detail I'd want resolved before booking. If you're on Liberty of the Seas this season, I'd budget the extra hour and call the shore desk if your day's already tight.