A PADI AOW is not technically a class. It is a platter of 4 specialty dives (night, deep, etc.). Normal fun dives, nothing stressful.
My sons were certified during a LOB on the Great Barrier in Cairns (one was 12, the other 16). The program for the trip was 11 dives max, we managed to make 10.
I do not have an exact perception about which of the 10 dives were for the AOW card. For us they were all normal fun dives...
Also the theory part was trivial for my sons, already been certified OW with CMAS. I and my wife are CMAS instructors, so we trained our sons ourself to the CMAS standard (which includes stepped deco with enriched gas, diving at elevation on alpine lakes, etc.) already for their first course.
We found that PADI requires just a basic subset of this knowledge for AOW, they reserve the complete theory for more advanced courses, for grabbing more money from students.
But the conclusion is: forget shops, I never understood people relying on shops for being trained.
Go for a nice holiday in a resort or a LOB and dive with a local diving center, who will arrange for a nice program of funny dives in wonderful locations.
At the end of the week you will fly back with your AOW card, having spent the same money as doing the same holidays without being certified.
I repeat, AOW is not a class, it is just a platter of specialty dives plus a trivial theoretical exam, which was easy to pass even for my 12-year-old son, albeit he is dyslexic and of course not being a native English talker he did struggle with translation.
. But you will get to dive open water somewhere so its win win.
