Trip Log Day 4: 7-Night Western Europe Cruise on Disney Fantasy – Lisbon, Portugal

Trip log, day four. Lisbon, Portugal.
7-Night Western Europe Cruise on Disney Fantasy
July 27, 2025

Guests Ashore: 8:00 am Guests Onboard: 5:00 pm
Personal Navigator

Up dark and early at 5 a.m. Before heading to bed last night, I packed up what I needed and was prepared to head ashore. Emily headed to the gym, and I made my way up to deck 13 forward, where I set up a GoPro to record a timelapse of our arrival before sunrise as we sailed the river and under the Ponte 25 de Abril bridge to our berth.

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I had no idea this morning was going to turn out the way it did with the sun rising over the horizon as we approached the port.

Just before pulling into our berth, we were treated to a great view of the Arco da Rua Augusta, built to commemorate the city’s reconstruction after the 1755 earthquake, featuring intricate sculptures. The Lisbon Cruise Port was a few blocks away to the east, but seems much closer from my perspective on deck.

Once we were docked, I headed back to the stateroom and we made our way ashore to meet up with our tour guide. This morning we experienced something new to us on the Fantasy – the deck 3 port gangway opposite of the traditional embarkation entrance. Normally, this area has seating by the portholes, but those were moved and the curtain was pulled back to reveal the gangway.

The cruise port offers nice view of the ship!

We pre-booked Discover the Best of Sintra Full Day Tour via Tours by Locals well ahead of our cruise for $389 for the three of us. Intimate Sintra: Pena Palace and Quinta da Regaleira (LI45) was a similar offering we considered through Disney, but that was $250 per person – making it nearly double the cost and while it would have been a small group, our tour was private.

A heat wave was causing officials to close places all over the area and it was impacting a number of Disney Cruise Line’s Port Adventure. Even with a third party tour, we were impacted. Our guide contacted us on Friday to offer a full refund. Since we already lost one port of call due to speed restrictions in place to help protect whales, so we are going to see what we can see. We replied and asked for a revised itinerary at our guide’s discretion.

Then on Saturday, we learned one of the highlights & one we were most looking forward to, Quinta da Regaleira, would also be closing.

Once again, we did not let this impact our day and stayed the course of ‘let’s see what we can see.’ We met Antonio, a true local born and raised in Sintra, outside the terminal, loaded in his van and set off on our tour beginning with a scenic drive along the Tagus River towards Cascais passing areas we saw as we were sailing in.

Antonio dropped us off at Praia Da Ribeira beach where we strolled along the walkway towards the old town area with shops and restaurants.

We made our way around towards the marina where we planned to meet back up. It was Sunday morning, and while a lot of people were at the beach already, shops and cafés were just opening at this time and our stroll quickly turned into a search for a water closet. Hindsight, we passed a McDonalds which may have been our best option bathroom access. The paver patter on Rua Frederico Arouca was a sight to see and the exterior walls on some buildings had intricate tiles.

We reached the “end” of the shopping are near the Village Museum and a mid-1960’s statue of King Pedro I, who reigned over Portugal in the years 1357-1367.

As we continued our walk to the marina, we passed by a mermaid statue known as Aos Descobrimentos Portugueses on our way to the Fortress Nossa Senhora da Luz de Cascais built ages ago by the king and is now used to host dignitaries when the come to Lisbon on official visits.

Antonio was parked in the area as this was our meeting spot, he advised there was a public restroom in the nearby marina’s shopping area.

Sure enough, the marina did have a nice public water closet available that we made use of prior to returning to the van. I am happy we took this detour as it gave us a chance to see the Santa Marta Lighthouse.

Antonio mentioned Portugal was neutral during WWII and leaders from other countries essentially came here to enjoy life. This was a time of espionage which reportedly sparked an early Ian Fleming James Bond story, Casino Royale. Fleming stayed at the Hotel Palácio in Estoril while on a mission and eventually was featured in the film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

Up next on our tour was a scenic 30-minute drive towards the west coast to an overlook at the westernmost point on the European continent, Cabo da Roca.

We were definitely on the west coast, where the ocean is fierce, the wind howled, and the temperature dropped a lot compared to Cascais. The cliffs were something special that these photos can’t really show. The power of the sea was on full display. I can only imagine what this area looks like during a winter storm.

Escaping back to the van, we preceded north towards Sintra stopping at a lovely overlook with a beach down below. Gorgeous spot, with a tidal pool near the restaurant and bar. This looks like an incredible spot to hang out and enjoy the ocean views on a HOT day.

Up the road about 10 minutes, we stopped at another beach area for lunch at Quiosque Das Maçãs, where we finally spotted a cat! Lunch was perfect and it was a great opportunity to chat with Antonio on a more personal level and the day felt more like hanging out with a friend than with a paid tour guide.

When visiting Europe, take advantage of any opportunity to visit a water closet. From experience, it is not fun searching for one at the last minute and really something I keep forgetting every time we are in Europe.

One of the many benefits of booking a third party private tour is that they can be dynamic and flexible. We asked Antonio in a pre-arrival email to arrange a stop to purchase some local wine. Antonio understood the assignment and earned extra credit for taking us to a grocery store instead of a small wine shop. You already know I love checking out grocery stores when traveling. Only hiccup here was getting the self service checkout into English to get past the first few screens dealing with the store’s loyalty program.

Local knowledge paid off for our final stop & Antonio dropped us off in Sintra while he found a spot to park. We walked around on our own for a while before heading to our meeting spot near the stairs of the National Palace.

Antonio dropped us off and went to find a spot to park the van while we walked around the old town area filled with shops and restaurants. We met up with Antonio at the steps of the National Palace where he proceeded to take us on a tour of the grounds.

Time was running low so we opted to skip the interior tour and walk over take a closer view of the closed Quinta Da Regaleira.

Quinta Da Regaleira was really the place I was most interested in exploring in Portugal after seeing it featured during episode 24 of season 9 of The Curse of Oak Island. Yes, I am still watching this show.

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Save the Clock Tower! In the same area of Sintra was Quinta Do Relógio which translates to Clock Tower Estate and is/was once owned by Madonna.

We walked back to the van and Antonio drove us back to the Port of Lisbon. This private tour was incredible allowing us to have nearly a full day ashore exploring areas of Lisbon that would have been difficult to do on our own or with a cancelled port adventures. While we didn’t see everything we wanted to no fault of our guide, we have a fantastic time and would defiantly recommend and book another tour with Antonio in a future visit to the area.

We still had time to causally look around the port duty free shopping area before we returned to the ship with 14 minutes to spare before all aboard time.

We cleaned up and made it to Enchanted Garden for dinner in time to enjoy the view as we sailed down the river under the bridge, dropping off the pilot, and made our way out to sea.

Tonight, we were served the Pirate Menu where I decided to order the Shanghaied Noodle Stir-fry substituting the tofu for chicken.

Emily ended the night reading a book while Isabelle and I went to see Fantastic Four: First Steps in the Walt Disney Theatre. Subjectivly, I felt the movie was light on depth of character compared to MCU films to date, and would have made a better Disney+ series. After sharing this opinion with a few others, I realize I’m in the minority here hence the subjective disclaimer. Personally, I would have preferred an origin story ending with act 1. Then the sequel could have taken on this story.

While there was a Pirate deck party tonight, there are no fireworks due to regional restrictions. We headed to bed to recharge for a time change ahead of our day ashore tomorrow.

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Trip Log Day 4: 7-Night Western Europe Cruise on Disney Fantasy – Lisbon, Portugal – July 27, 2025

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