Same feelings about Australia. Great diving but the cost to value ratio does not match for us living on East Coast USA. Some of the highly recognized destinations that I have chosen to remove from my bucket list are:
Australia: The cost of travel and diving make this one a bit impractical. If I was going to spend over 5K to travel and dive a place then I could do so many other places that are so much higher end than this one that Australia does not give a good cost to value ratio. If I was on the West Coast and there was a cheaper flight then things would be different.
Cayman Islands: The cost for diving the "Bloody Bay Wall" is pretty much the in the same range as a Red Sea trip or even a cheap Asia Pacific trip like Thailand. I would skip this for the better places available in the same cost.
Belize: The seasonal whale shark factor makes this a bit hard to ignore but travel lodging and diving here in the far well known sites still makes it a bit in the same category as Cayman Islands. Better diving can be done in the same $$$
Palau: Flight prices are freaking expensive!!! This place has gotten praise from a lot of folks so I am sure that it must be something but you can dive Philippines, Maldives and Komodo for less money than this one. The question then becomes after doing all these cheaper more accessible places, would it make sense to spend extra money for Palau? Would it really be that much better than all these? Perhaps more experiences divers who have done all these places could offer a cost vs value comparison.
Fiji: As an ethnographic film-maker I am interested in visiting this place for culture and since this is also a great diving destination, I will probably visit this place someday. Had it been purely for diving then I ask the same question. When Philippines, Maldives, Komodo etc can be done in less money then does Fiji deserve to be on a "bucket list?" Does it really beat all these places with significant enough of a margin to be worthy of the extra money? I don't know.
PNG: Diving this place is easily in the 7K USD range. I totally understand the remoteness factor associated to this place and to be honest, I am driven to this place for the same reason as Fiji. It gives a chance to study and film a native and indigenous culture that has evolved with relatively little contact to the outside world but for purely diving reasons, it would have to beat Raja Ampat by a huge margin to justify the price and inconvenience associated with it. I would have to do far more research into this location before I can say that it is in my REALISTIC bucket list.
Truuk and Bikini Atoll: I hate to take these off of my list but I live next to the Great Lakes and they can feed my lust for historic wrecks for many life times. Had the travel and diving costs not been so high then I would definitely have done these two but in terms of cost vs value Scapa Flow seems more do-able. This attitude of mine can change because I intend to do a wreck penetration course and then all these places that I am keeping off of my list may make their way back in. Till then Id like to limit my wreck diving interests to historic wrecks closer to home.