The Last Breakfast at Sea: Why Leaving the Carnival Vista Broke My Heart

The alarm on my phone went off at 5:47 AM, three minutes before I actually needed to wake up. I hit snooze anyway, not ready to face what today meant. Through the porthole of my cabin on Deck 8, I could see the sun rising over the port of Galveston, painting the water in shades of orange and pink. We'd be docking in less than an hour. Our seven-day Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Carnival Vista was officially over. I didn't want to get out of bed. This wasn't supposed to happen. I'd booked this cruise back in January as a solo trip—something I needed after a rough year of job changes and a bad breakup. I told myself I'd spend the week reading books, eating too much at the buffet, and maybe catching a show or two. Low-key. Relaxing. Predictable. What I didn't plan on was meeting people who would make me actually dread the thought of returning to real life. I dragged myself out of bed and took one last shower in my tiny cabin bathroom, using up the last of the complimentary shampoo. The water pressure on the Carnival Vista was surprisingly good—something I'd come to appreciate over the past week. I changed into my disembarkation clothes, a pair of jeans and a hoodie, and sat on the…