By Martie Thompson
editor@floridanewsline.com
Suzanne Fisher said she mostly traveled domestically — via car — as a young girl with her parents, but that was enough to pique her interest in international travel. A native Floridian, she was born and raised in Bartow, a small town and “great place to grow up” located in central Florida. After high school, she relocated to Tallahassee to attend Florida State University. Her degree in fashion merchandising and marketing led to a lengthy and successful career in retail, beginning in St. Petersburg with Robinson’s department store. She served as an assistant buyer before moving on to department manager, assistant store manager and store manager with The Limited. But she always loved to travel and in the early 1990s enrolled in a travel school that she said was like an “international geography lesson.” She gained valuable knowledge and eventually became an agent at the Cruise Center in Mandarin. By 1999, she and her business partner, Kathy Harris, negotiated with the owner of the agency to buy it themselves. They have expanded the Cruise Center to be a full service travel agency with many travel partnerships that offers far more than just cruises. Suzanne lives in Mandarin with her husband Scott and two “fuzzy” cats: Sophie and Ali.
Q: What brought you to Jacksonville?
A: I came to Jacksonville in 1987 when the Jacksonville Landing had just opened to be an assistant store manager at The Limited. I had never been to Jacksonville before and I had just one day to find an apartment to live in. Eventually I became store manager of the store in the Orange Park Mall. I moved around a bit more with The Limited before coming back to Jacksonville and becoming a store manager for a ski store. But I was starting to get burned out on retail … nights and weekends. So that’s why I went to the travel school and changed careers.
Q: What do you recall about your early years working as a travel agent?
A: When I first started at the Cruise Center in 1991, we had just one computer and it wasn’t connected to the internet. We did everything via phone and mail and there was lots of paperwork. I have no idea now how I did my job then!
Q: Where did you and Scott get married?
A: Scott is my soulmate and travel buddy. Fittingly, we were married on the Grand Princess ship, somewhere between Jamaica and Grand Cayman … by the captain!
Q: What is your favorite part of your job?
A: My favorite part is when a client comes back home and had an amazing trip. Knowing that I helped them create great experiences and memories is very satisfying. I would say, even more so now than pre-COVID (a horribly stressful time for travel because everything was just shut down), people value their time with family and friends.
Q: Do you have a favorite destination?
A: I have a few. One favorite is Alaska. On our first trip to Alaska, Scott and I loved it so much that we purchased a vacation home in Seward that we call “Fisher’s Hideaway.” Seward is a magical place and we go there twice a year. Another destination I’ve fallen in love with is Tahiti, French Polynesia. We love the culture and the people. We’ve been there for our 10th and 20th anniversaries.
Q: What do you like to do in your spare time?
A: My profession affords us the ability to travel more than the average person; we probably travel about six weeks out of the year. When I’m not traveling, I like to spend time with family and friends. Also, we are outdoor people, who enjoy kayaking, hiking and fishing together.
Photo courtesy Suzanne Fisher
Suzanne and Scott Fisher
