Family can mean many things. What is the demographics of your group?

I have not been on that cruise, but we went on a cruise on the Baltic last summer with two children. I would suggest rather than a blanket statement of cruise versus independent, you have a list of what you're interested in, then decide from there.

Much will also depend on how much time you have. Civitavecchia, for example, is about 120 minutes from Rome by train. Rome is a fairly easy city to navigate on your own and the main train station in Rome is within a walk of under 20 minutes to the Coliseum and Forum area.

Your question is fairly broad, which makes it difficult to answer.

I would suggest you get a good guidebook on European Ports of Call, like the Fodors book. That will provide an outline of each place you will visit.

Once you've done that, then I suggest you list the things you'd most like to see in each place. With that, compare it to what the ship offers for excursions.

I basically did exactly that when I went to the Baltic last summer. I read up on each place, picked what I wanted to see, and figured out the best way to do that. Time constraints may require you rank you interests from must see to would be nice to see.

Just be aware, cruise line excursions will add significant cost to your trip. If pracitical, I would try and explore on your own in certain places.

I apologize, I should have been more detailed. My husband and I will be traveling with our 6-year-old daughter with friends and their daughters (8 and 5).