[WHOOSH]

BB, I came into this thread based on its title: I think it''s a fool''s errand to take the position that you either want or need to convince your wife to go cruising.

After reading your personal circumstances, my sense is that you are understating the task considerably. Stated in my words vs. yours, I would say you are asking your wife to take a blindfolded leap off a very tall platform with no real certainty about what lies below...or how far down it is. You (both) have had little exposure to boating, apparently none to cruising, are geographically divorced from being able to significantly change this, and the steps towards Day 1 of leaving on a Caribbean cruise involve essentially total disruption of your/her status quo. Given that, IMO you are expecting far too much to even pose the question.

If you feel the itch (burning desire, even...) do ''go cruising'', two general choices come to mind: work on this as a personal goal (asking only for her support and understanding that it is something you alone wish to commit to) OR asking her to take a few beginning steps with you, as you build skills afloat and work on her anxiety issues and your presumed joys.

In truth, you can''t know you want to go cruising yet; you can only covet the *thought* of cruising, as you understand it intellectually right now. My advice would be to be satisfied, near term, with half a loaf and gain some experience, preferably together, that will help each of you better understand the kind of commitment needed and the nature of the experience...and then both of you decide what you wish to do, based on reality rather than imagination.

Tough issue; good luck to you.

Jack