Hi, my wife and I just returned from the UDE at the Allegro. While the Allegro gets poor reviews for plumbing (low water pressures, sporadic hot water) and sewage treatment odours, the UDE is a very worthwhile program for you. It will provide a one tank dive daily for each of you (typically US$37 each), access to a private air conditioned lounge with self serve bar & continental breakfast from 6:30 - 11:00 AM & hot/cold snacks from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM, the opportunity to reserve dinner at the A La Carte restaurants for EVERY night of your stay (only 2 or 3 nights for other packages), and a private concierge service. The diving covered about 2/3's of the price and I cannot recommend Pro Divers more highly. We are hard core divers, and did 19 dives in 6 days (blown out for 3 dives, to late for morning dives on our first day on resort). All of the dive masters were excellent, the boats in good shape, everything well organized. Boat rides were usually under 10 minutes except for the most southern sites (Devils Throat) which was longer. The more technical dives were in the morning, but all dives were excellent. This shop offers free nitrox, dives were all 50 - 60 minutes long, and we never felt rushed. In your situation, I think this package would be perfect. Otherwise, expect long waits for food - not fun with a baby.
One other note. We expected the concierge service with special check in/check out to reduce the hassle of traveling with our own dive gear. We were never told that the service is only available from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. As everyone was lined up to check in, we sat down in a section to the right of the line up and I approached the front desk to enquire about our personalized service. They eventually sent someone over to check us in and a porter to bring our gear down to the room (very close to the beach, in the quietest area of the resort). On departure, we discovered that the concierge is off duty on Fridays, and her replacement was working at the front desk. We ended up lugging all of our gear to the front desk to check out, although with a bit of thought we probably could have called the front desk to arrange for a bell hop to pick everything up. There were a few issues with the UDE in our situation (Tuesday meet & greet started before the afternoon dive boats returned and was over just after we arrived at 5:30; Diver of the Week cocktail hour started at 4 PM while all the serious divers were still on the dive boats, was over by 5:00 PM and Diver of the Week awarded to someone who had just arrived ), limited opportunities to eat between the morning and afternoon dives, and lack of hot water to shower after diving.
Despite tour operator claims to be an All Inclusive hotel, including gratuities, be sure and bring tip money - it got us beer at the private lounge, more water & beer in our room from the maids, faster service in the restaurants and bars, and personalized attention from the dive masters. Our Air Transat briefing on the first morning reinforced the importance of tipping.
I hope this helps you with your decision. Enjoy Cozumel - the diving was amazing!
