“He said he’d never missed his numbers,” recalled Andy Stuart, a Norwegian employee for nearly 25 years who now holds the title of executive vice president/global sales and passenger services. “Truthfully, we were an organization that had missed quite a number of numbers.”

People were dubious, Stuart said, but no one doubted the new CEO, at least, believed it was possible. Sheehan introduced the book that would become the company’s guide, Jim Collins’ Good to Great, a treatise on what makes companies successful. Five years later, he and staffers still reference it in conversation.” Now there’s this culture where we cannot miss,” Stuart said. “I think you’d see the same raised eyebrows if we missed our numbers now as you did see raised eyebrows at the idea of meeting our numbers every quarter.”

NEW DIRECTION

The early years of Sheehan’s tenure were complicated by decisions made before his time: Norwegian was taking a serious financial hit from its operations in Hawaii, where three U.S.-flagged ships with American crews were earning a reputation for poor service and leaving passengers and travel agents with a bad impression. The company had already redeployed two of the ships when Sheehan took the CEO job, but he had an image problem to clean up and the existing ship to improve.

The line was also embroiled in a costly dispute with STX Europe ASA, the shipyard in France that built the Epic and was under contract to build a second giant ship in the same mold. Sheehan canceled the order for the second ship and moved on — right into the recession in 2009.

“That first year was complete fixing and getting everything teed up,” Sheehan said. “The second year was the economic thing. ...It didn’t get to be really where we started to get all of the stuff going until probably 2010.”

That was the year the $1.2 billion Norwegian Epic debuted with a host of popular new features, restaurants, activities and entertainment — a continuation of the “freestyle” model the line had pioneered years earlier that allowed passengers to pick when and with whom they wanted to dine.

But there were also flops, including the boxy exterior and the puzzling staterooms, which featured divided bathrooms and sinks in the main room.

“I don’t think I’m too harsh in saying it’s probably the ugliest ship that’s been built in my time in the industry,” said Rod McLeod, a former Norwegian Cruise Line CEO who will retire as a cruise consultant this year. “And he had nothing to do with that....It’s a wonderful testimony to what Sheehan inherited.”

Ships of the line

Later that year, the company announced the order of two new ships that would eventually be named the Breakaway and Getaway for a total of about $1.7 billion. It also unveiled plans — which would be put on hold for two years until the market improved — to go public.

“It’s been a dynamic period with very strong leaders and an enormous increase in the size and sophistication of the ships,” said Miamian Walter Revell, a longtime member of the company’s board of directors. “I think it’s been exemplary. This is an intense business; Kevin is an intense guy. So we have a great match.”