We are a family of 6, kids ages 12-18, that travel with 2 grandparents usually. For us, so far, cruising is easier because of the traveling hotel room - no packing, unpacking, figuring out transportation, etc. However, I also really like the times we are land based and can relax in a city, soak in the atmosphere, take in a coffee break or a long dinner at a sidewalk cafe.
How you travel depends on several things - how comfortable you are with cost, the amount of planning you have to do, how comfortable your family is with new experiences, how much you want to be in charge once you get there, and where you want to go.
Honestly, the Med is generally a very port intensive cruise. You won't get as much ship time (without giving up port time), so maybe paying the premium for
DCL is not worth it. I'll also say that coming from Texas, even we were completely wilted by the summer heat of the Med.
If you cruise, you will need to decide what to do in the ports. You can pay nothing and just explore, you can do DCL excursions (so minimal planning on your part but more costly), or you can do DIY excursions you plan yourself via research on TripAdvisor, CruiseCritic, etc (FWIW, I think those are much more cost effective and enjoyable - having done it both ways.)
If you do ABD, almost everything is taken care for you, minus some OYO time in certain cities, but there's the factor of changing locations, though ABD will take care of your luggage and get you there. You can also do ABD add-ons to a cruise. Other posters here can give you more specifics on that, but that seems to allow you to do certain combinations of port excursions without having to do the planning, and more than the average DCL excursion, and/or do the city extensions before or after the cruise. Doing an ABD is definitely more expensive per person, assuming you are not cruising concierge on DCL. The cruise/ABD combo would be the most expensive option, however.
For us, with 7 people trailing behind me, and me the travel planner, I'm not happy being the one making all the "how do we get from A to B, etc" decisions once we get in country. Cruises eliminate a lot of that. I just need to find a guide that will meet us at the port. If it were just dh and I, I'd be ok with figuring it out as we go.
There are other companies that do package group travel, enough that there is a long "Other Options" thread here. If you are hesitant to do Europe without some help, I'd suggest you look at several options.
We've done a Baltic DCL cruise, with half DCL excursions, and half DIY. We looked at DCL for the Med, but for half the cost, cruised concierge with MSC, saving enough money to do a week in France first, where the arrangements, transportation, guides, were planned by a company called "France Just for You" but which did not include a 24 hr guide like an ABD. We've done enough European travel that I was comfortable with that.
To be honest, I have an ABD deposit (originally for the Danube river cruise) that is currently sitting waiting to be used. With 2 kids in college now, I can't pull the trigger on and ABD cost, and can travel more with less money using other options. I'm still trying to decide if I want to just lose the money or commit to a hefty cost for the 6 of us for sometime in the future.
I hope that helps.