The cruise sector has fought for months with US authorities over how to handle the pandemic, but industry leaders agree that both sides want one thing.
The tussle began in March, when the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) asked the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to lift restrictions on cruises by July.
The CDC denied CLIA's request, so Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings announced in early April that it would start sailing its vessels in July anyway.
At the same time, Florida, which is home to cruise majors Carnival Corp, Royal Caribbean Group and Norwegian, sued the CDC for federal overreach.
Three months later, the state passed a law prohibiting businesses, including cruise companies, from requiring vaccination, but a federal judge overturned the law in August at Norwegian's request.
Despite the fighting, CLIA chief executive Kelly Craighead said they all share one common goal.
"Everybody's trying to figure this out in a way so that businesses can thrive and people can get back to work," she said on Tuesday at the 2021 Seatrade Cruise Global conference in Miami.
She said Florida governor Ron DeSantis recognises how important the industry is to his state's economy and is doing what he can to help it succeed.
"Sometimes you can't always read too much into what you see in the newspapers," she said.
Craighead was a panellist on the annual conference's keynote State of the Industry talk with chief executives Arnold Donald of Carnival Corp, Richard Fain of Royal Caribbean and Pierfrancesco Vago of MSC Cruises.
Norwegian chief executive Frank Del Rio has regularly participated in past Seatrade State of the Industry talks, but he was absent from Tuesday's discussion.
Craighead also said the industry is fortunate to have the support of the Biden administration in trying to get back on its feet since being shut down in March 2020.
Fain said the industry should not focus on any one particular governing body's impact on the efforts to return to sailing.
"The unifying theme is that nobody knows the right answer to every question and everybody has a different point of view," he said.
"Everybody is working to a common goal because they all see how important the cruise industry is to the economies of all these places around the world, whether it's a state, a city or a nation.
"There are differences in some of the details and they can be very time-consuming and frustrating, but the overall direction has been absolutely straight and clear."
Donald said the cruise sector is still well within the pandemic's grip, however, so it still needs to advocate for itself as an important industry that needs the same level of support that other travel and leisure industries get.
"We have to keep the communication pressure up so that everything is considered, so we have the opportunity to continue what we do well in and do it in a way that serves the best interest of public health," he said.
