They are open to enjoying them, I just don't think I've done a great job so far presenting naval combat. The rules can be a little cumbersome, and it's difficult to represent the scale of the encounters. Whereas most combats occur within a 100 ft or so range, naval combat is just so much BIGGER.
The idea is so cool, I'm really trying to do it justice. For this battle, I'll be using a smaller mat to represent a zoomed out overhead view of Flint Bay, to show the general geography, points of interest, and locations of enemy vessels. For short range/boarding action combat, I'm going to use the ship models I've printed out and laminated. . . but as you can see, they are really too big for a regular battle mat. I plan to push all my furniture back, stack pillows around the edges of the room for the players, and use my hardwood floor as the open sea. I hope it works!