Chief executive Roger Dow said it has become "economically imperative" to find pathways to restarting cruise.
He stressed the restrictions on the sector had taken a "disproportionally heavy" toll on the sector owing to rules, unique to cruise, preventing operations.
It comes after Clia last week urged the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to lift its framework for conditional sailing order and allow the sector to plan for a phased resumption of cruise operations from US ports in July.
Clia president and chief executive Kelly Craighead said the risks owing to vaccination and better Covid treatment, protocols and mitigations did not justify the order, which has been in place without revision since October last year.
"Since then, the CDC has not released any further guidance to support the resumption of US cruise operations," said Clia. "The lack of any action by the CDC has effectively banned all sailings in the largest cruise market in the world.
"Cruising is the only sector of the US economy that remains prohibited, even as most others have opened or continued to operate throughout the pandemic."
On Wednesday (31 March), Dow gave the sector his backing and threw the weight of the US Travel Association behind Clia’s calls for a resumption of cruising.
"The standard of evidence should be exceptionally high for rules that effectively single out certain industries as other parts of the economy are allowed to reopen," said Dow.
"Restrictions have taken a disproportionately heavy toll on the travel industry and our millions of workers, and the rule preventing cruise operations is uniquely specific.
"It is economically imperative to find the pathways to reopening, and the evidence is clear that a layered approach to health and safety allows the safe resumption of travel.
"We join the calls to identify the way toward lifting the Conditional Sail Order and allowing the phased resumption of cruise operations as quickly as possible."
