[Ted Davisson]

Greetings From New Orleans ,
On rare occasions , the Cruise Ships do go above both the Greater New Orleans Hwy. Bridge and the Huey P. Long Bridge when enroute to destinations into what some of us affectionately refer to as " NOBRA - Land " !
A few years ago there was a cruise ship that went on a supposed " Cruise To No Where " , where in actuality it went up to Baton Rouge and then returned to New Orleans ! Well , maybe they were right in referring to it as a cruise to " No Where " LOL !
Piloting a Cruise Ship was and is a rather unique experience due to the fact that unlike the other commercial ships like the bulkers , the tankers or even some of the heavy lift submersibles , the Cruise Ships for the most part or much cleaner , all officiers are in uniform and the best part is the FOOD is so much better and unique !Also , for some of the NOBRA pilots it is some what awkward at first at least to pilot form a bridge located all the way forward such as was the case with piloting the steamboats ; DQ , MQ & AQ ! Just a different perspective and yes literally a different point of view !
ALso , every so often the NOBRA Pilots will get a small cruise ship enroute to the Avondale Shipyards for repairs and or renovation . Having said that , it is now my understanding that Avondale Shipyards no longer makes commercial repairs so it just may be even a longer time before we see a Cruise Ship enroute to Avondale !