$900 for open water. I hope that includes all your pool time boat trips breakfast and lunch daily and a DAMN BUTLER! Often these packages include over priced low end mask, snorkel and fins. I think you can probably do better even going ala carte on the extras.
The hidden costs in many cases are the pool time, boat or quarry fees, rental equipment and instructor fees for check out and open water dives.
As for tanks, if you’re a vacation diver forget the tanks. Even if you intend to do a lot of local diving I would wait a season to see if you really have the interest before investing in tanks.
Northeast diving isn’t for the faint of heart. Give yourself about a dozen Jersey dives before you make the decision. There are plenty on smooth easy dive days in the Atlantic Ocean, but one bad one has settled it for many divers.
Remember everyone has an opinion, and none of these might be right for you.
Educate yourself you can compare prices and quality. There are a dizzying array of choices.
As advised about put money towards quality regulators, after all ytuo cant use the rest of the fancy stuff if your dead.