Undercover Boss - Norwegian Cruise Lines

Sunday, January 2, 2011 on CBS - Undercover Boss featured Kevin Sheehan, CEO of Norwegian Cruise Lines headquartered in Miami, Florida. Kevin Sheehan worked a wide variety of jobs after high school and eventually paid his way through college by working as a cab driver. He joined Norwegian Cruise Lines in 2007, which meant he had to move to Miami while his wife stayed in New York. Although he admits that this is very hard on them, he also realizes he has turned the company around with his hard work, and would like to keep improving it.

Kevin Sheehan goes undercover, disguising himself to pose as Peter Francis. He goes first to Maui, Hawaii to work on The Pride of America ship. Job one for Peter, aka undercover boss Kevin, is as deck repairmen. John begins teaching him to paint, scrub and power-wash the salt and rust off of every nook and cranny of the ship, good-naturedly insulting him as they work. John says that he loves his job, but he misses his wife, particularly now when she is soon to give birth to a baby girl. He talks about the inner calm he experiences from working in such beauty, and admits that he would never have met his wife if it weren't for his job on board ship.

Job two is back in Miami, Florida aboard the Norwegian Cruise Ship, the Epic. Peter works with Jessica on the recreation staff. He learns that working the rappelling wall includes doing the task himself, then having guests fill out and sign lengthy waivers, which Jessica says would better be done in advance in the rooms, so the guests could just bring them and have fun. Peter is very unsure of himself while helping women don harnesses to rappel down the wall, which makes the women nervous. Jessica laughs that it doesn't seem as if he's ever interacted with women before.

Next, undercover boss Kevin, posing as Peter, must help Jessica assemble a pseudo skating rink, which consists of lifting, carrying and placing hundreds of large, very heavy plaster board, fitting the pieces together like a puzzle and spraying them with a slick, greasy coating. Jessica says it is the worse job ever, and Peter keeps complaining that it is going to completely throw his back out. After finally getting the job done, the crew sits and waits, for hours, but none of the guests care to ice skate on their cruise ship. Jessica says hardly anyone ever comes to try it. Finally Peter leaves, exhausted, for his cabin, and even though he doesn't have to clean it up, he is completely worn out. Jessica confides that lots of staff don't want to return to the Epic because of bad ideas like this that management obviously didn't think through thoroughly. "This was not what we signed up for," she laments.

Job three for the undercover boss, still on the Epic, is as a waiter in The Manhattan Room, the most important dining room on the Epic. He is to work with Silvia, but as soon as she sees him, she calls out his name several times. He's horrified. After a minute, he goes and introduces himself as Peter Francis, and as soon as he can get her alone, he explains the situation. "How did you know?" he asks. It seems Silvia had served him one time at a dinner on the Epic, and she never forgets her guests. He asks her to keep it quiet, and she agrees, but grins in anticipation of showing him just how hard and dirty her job is. She begins training him, and the work is hard, with a lot of details to remember and very heavy trays to carry. He feels she was very hard on him, but she calmly informs him that he didn't do a quarter of what a back waiter would normally be expected to accomplish.

Kevin, aka Peter, asks her about herself, and she admits she doesn't even know if she wants to stay with the company, since after six years the promotions are still glacially slow in coming. She doesn't understand why they keep hiring new people instead of promoting some of their loyal workers. She has missed all the Christmases since she started working on the Epic, and she wants to go home and get married.

Job four, also on the Epic, is on the entertainment staff with Michael. This group is the social hub of the ship, planning and hosting activities, events and parties. The white hot party is on for this night, and Peter has to learn a line dance. Michael is patient, but Peter's dyslexia doesn't help the learning process. "Tonight you'll have to teach this to a thousand guests," Michael mentions casually.

Michael and Peter take a break, and Michael explains that he worked as an actor, and then in a lot of theme parks. It is very tough being away from his family, but his mother died a few years ago of brain cancer, at the age of 51, and that is the hardest thing of all. Michael mentions a benefit he helped with that raised $20,000 for cancer in memory of his mother. After the break, Michael takes Peter to recruit passengers for the white hot party that night, which Peter, or undercover boss Kevin, enjoys very much. Then it is time to dress, in white clothes, white fedoras and angel wings. At first Peter is very nervous as hundreds of guests watch him in the spotlight, trying to teach them a dance he barely knows. But they are all in a party mood, and soon he's having fun along with them.

Now Peter Francis transforms back in to Kevin Sheehan. It is time to let the employees know that he has been an Undercover Boss for the week in his own company, the Norwegian Cruise Lines. He brings the employees he has worked with to The Pride of America cruise ship to reveal himself to them.

The employees meet their boss who has been undercover as their trainee. Kevin tells Jessica that he agrees that the ice skating rink is ridiculous, and not what she was hired to do, and that she and her staff will never have to do that again! Also, he'd like Jessica to enter Norwegian Cruise Line's Management Training program, find out what area she likes best, and become an executive in the company.

He informs Michael that he loves how he interacted with the guests and made them feel special and comfortable. He says it is obvious that Michael cares about his job and his guests, and they are going to promote him to Assistant Cruise Director on the Epic. Also, he would like Michael to host another cancer benefit, in his name and his mother's memory, and Norwegian Cruise Lines will match whatever he is able to raise.

John, the wisecracking deck maintenance man, says Kevin brought the jokes on himself. Kevin tells him that his attention to detail shows pride in his daily activities, which Kevin, as boss, appreciates. Kevin wants to bring John's wife and his new daughter to John, so they can all be together; then he wants to send them on a cruise with John's parents so the family can spend time with each other.

Silvia, who has never heard of the show "Undercover Boss," is told that she did a spectacular job serving the guests, and he wants her to be on the Board. Also, he is promoting her to Senior Waitress so she can earn more. Furthermore, he tells her he wants to arrange for her to have her wedding on the ship and make it really nice.

Finally Kevin tells the people at headquarters that he's been an Undercover Boss for the past week, and is very glad to see all the hard work the crews do in giving guests a fabulous experience, all while they themselves are separated from their own families. Norwegian Cruise Lines is going to make a donation of one hundred thousand dollars to an enrichment fund just for the crew, to fund activities and parties to show appreciation for the sacrifices they make for their company. They all applaud their Undercover Boss.

Source: personal experience watching Undercover Boss on CBS