Why I Cried Watching Symphony of the Seas Leave Port

I'm not usually the sentimental type. I'm the person who rolls her eyes at sunset Instagram posts and thinks people who get emotional at airports are being a little extra. So when I found myself standing on the stern deck of Symphony of the Seas with tears actually running down my face as we pulled away from the port in Galveston, I was completely blindsided by my own emotions. It all started because I couldn't find my friends. We'd spent the first two hours of embarkation day doing the typical cruise thing—checking into our stateroom, unpacking, taking selfies by the window with the port view, heading to the buffet. My cabin mates, Lisa and Jennifer, had wanted to hit up the Windjammer for lunch, but I'd grabbed a coffee and decided to explore the ship on my own. Symphony of the Seas is massive (5,686 passengers can fit on this thing), and I wanted to get my bearings before we sailed. Plus, honestly, I needed thirty minutes of peace and quiet after the chaos of getting onboard. I'd meandered through the Royal Promenade, marveled at the impossible engineering of the atrium, and found myself wandering toward the back of the ship just as the final boarding announcement was being mad…