I will be very interested to hear your trip reports for Jamaica versus Cozumel. I've heard mixed reports about Jamaica - that the diving is terrible, and that it's ok. I love the diving in Cozumel, so I look forward to hearing about your experiences.
I've heard that there is a serious coral crisis in the Maldives and it does not provide good diving right now (heard from a fellow diver who was there in the past couple of years). You might want to look into that if you're seriously considering that location. The local folks might not tell you about the bleaching, but there's plenty on the internet. And I'm sure there are folks here who have been there and can say yea or nay.
The liveaboards I've been on do not put a guide in the water with you, so that means your navigation needs to be pretty good. Ours was (and still is) not so awesome. I still prefer to have someone in the water to show me where the cool stuff is - i.e., if there's a resident seahorse it doesn't generally move around a lot, so the dive guide might be able to find it while I'd only stumble upon it by dumb luck - same with drummies. Also, check out what sort of currents there are where some of the liveaboards go - might be colder water. They might be pretty stiff, might have some possibility of down-currents too. As a newer diver you'll probably want less challenging conditions.
If you want lots of diving you can get 3 boat dives a day at Anthony's Key in Roatan - easy diving with a guide in the water. We were just looking at Magic Island Resort in the Phillipines (Cebu I think) and you can get 3 boat dives a day and also shore dives.
Bottom line, my recommendation is to stay within your comfortable dive limits, and have fun.
I've heard that there is a serious coral crisis in the Maldives and it does not provide good diving right now (heard from a fellow diver who was there in the past couple of years). You might want to look into that if you're seriously considering that location. The local folks might not tell you about the bleaching, but there's plenty on the internet. And I'm sure there are folks here who have been there and can say yea or nay.
The liveaboards I've been on do not put a guide in the water with you, so that means your navigation needs to be pretty good. Ours was (and still is) not so awesome. I still prefer to have someone in the water to show me where the cool stuff is - i.e., if there's a resident seahorse it doesn't generally move around a lot, so the dive guide might be able to find it while I'd only stumble upon it by dumb luck - same with drummies. Also, check out what sort of currents there are where some of the liveaboards go - might be colder water. They might be pretty stiff, might have some possibility of down-currents too. As a newer diver you'll probably want less challenging conditions.
If you want lots of diving you can get 3 boat dives a day at Anthony's Key in Roatan - easy diving with a guide in the water. We were just looking at Magic Island Resort in the Phillipines (Cebu I think) and you can get 3 boat dives a day and also shore dives.
Bottom line, my recommendation is to stay within your comfortable dive limits, and have fun.