So many great points here and I would say we are probably in the minority in that we like short cruises v long! (We are good with longer land tours) We started cruising with DCL when my kids were 5 & 3. They are now 14 & 12 and we generally go every other year. Having said that, we are Floridians and live about 2 hrs from Port Canaveral so it is easy for us. We have done the Dream and Wish. Love both for different reasons. We took kids to Europe first time last summer and did Paris & London w land tour (with a few days at DL Paris of course!) It was great. We debated on the cruise but as someone mentioned above, generally, port cities on cruises are far from the actual city you are going to see (for example, Rome from port is 40 min) and we really want to see the cities so would definitely be doing excursions each day. They are long days in European ports because you typically have to add 2 hrs in just to get from ship to city & back. We are off on a ABD trip to Italy this summer and also did a land tour with Tauck to Alaska when my kids were 9 & 7. Loved that as well. With all of that in mind, I would ask you what is your main interest in going on the cruise? To relax? To see different cities? If more relaxing then the Carib would be better. If touring, then Europe with the caveats mentioned. You just need to boil it down to your main goal and then decide. For whatever it is worth, we loved the new Wish (we generally do Concierge and if you aren't looking at that your 50% off makes it much more reasonable!). Good luck. Either way will be a great trip!