The Lusitânia Expresso became best known for the trip it made to Timor-Leste in 1992, following the massacre of East Timorese at the Santa Cruz cemetery in Dili by Indonesian troops.

The Lusitânia Expresso was purchased in October 1988 by Companhia de Transportes Marítimos (COMTRAMAR) for use on a line between Portimão, Tangier, Madeira and Porto Santo.

The Lusitânia Expresso's trip to Timor was an initiative of the Forum Estudante magazine team, with the aim of raising international public opinion to the cause of Timor, which had the support of several public figures, namely the former president of the Republic of Portugal, General Ramalho Eanes.

It mobilized 120 students, from 23 countries, who left Portugal with the aim of laying a wreath at the scene of the massacre, and thus attracting media attention on the issue of oppression of the people of Timor-Leste.

On its last stage, starting from Darwin on 9 March 1992, after 3 months of travel, the Lusitânia Expresso was flown over by Indonesian military aircraft and intercepted on 11 March, at the entrance to the territorial waters of Timor, by four ships of Indonesian war. After throwing flowers into the sea, in memory of the dead in Timor-Leste, the Lusitânia Expresso was forced to return to Portugal.

Although it did not reach the objective of reaching Dili, in Timor-Leste, the Lusitânia Expresso trip managed to mobilize the attention of the international press to the dramatic situation in which the people of Timor lived, contributing in a way to the withdrawal of Indonesia and the independence of the last Portuguese colony.

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