Some large format tiles are not flat enough to do a 50% stagger. Check the manufacturer's  instructions. 24" X 48" tile requires flat and planar walls and a good craftsman.

Dianela's shower looks quite good and, as you say, the fewer the grout lines the less cleaning there is to do.

As long as your tile guy is good with installing the larger tiles, then that is all that matters.

I like to tile the ceiling in all my showers, specially with only 8 ft. of height.

Make sure the COF is adequate for shower floors, you don't need it to be an ice skating rink......................

I agree the tile guy has to have references for 24 x248 tile insyall . BTW IMO no bench in thta small shower just a nice foldable teak one and niches are almost always where leaks start and if you want few grout lines forget the bench and the niche . I use 12 x24 stacked tile for both bathroom floors and shower walls much easier for install and really in thta size shower a better choice .No 50% 0ff set even with 12 x24 tile that is why I stack them and use matching grout .

We used 24x48 horizontally in a 42x60 shower. We love having minimal grout lines and find the shower very serene. There is a niche in the half wall. The bathroom floor is matching 12x24 in offset. Make sure you have a tiler with experience with large format if you go that route.

Note in the bathroom floor in the above photos that 12 x 24 floor tiles should be offset by 1/3 not 1/2, for better stability.

Yes, our tile guy would only do 1/3 offset on the floor with the 12x24.

I've done a few bathrooms with 1/2 offset 12x24 tiles on the floor. No issues with good quality tiles and great tile installers.

So, shower walls are 42" x 78" wide + 96" high - you need to determine which size tile works the best for the size of your shower walls. You don't want to end up with little pieces of tile on the end(s) of a wall or at the top or bottom of a wall.

The tile that you're looking at also comes in honed and polished. They carry different sizes depending upon which finish you select. Which finish do you like?

The honed tiles come in 48x48 - if you did that size, you could stack them and have only one grout line around the shower - with 96" ceilings (under the specs, Bedrosian lists that the 48" x 48" is both the nominal + the actual size of the tile). The specs for the 24"x 48" size lists that the actual size of each tile is 23-3/4" x 47-3/8."

The honed also comes in 30x30 (actual 29.5" x 29.5") + some other sizes (smaller) - no 12" x 24".

The polished comes in 24" x 48" (nominal size) + 30" x 30" (nominal size) + some smaller sizes. It does not come in 12" x 24" (or 48"x 48").

So, if you are set on this tile, unless your installer is going to cut the tiles to size, you don't have the option of installing 12" x24" regardless of the finish.

I think that the 24x48 tiles look best in a stacked installation - first, 50/50 running bond is not usually done for LFT - especially really large tiles due to lippage issues. Second, the tiles look better when the veining runs from one tile through to the next tile - like this:

Your actual tile selection - see how the way the veins run? They make it that way in order to have it look more like a slab of marble when installed. If you had your tile installer cut the tiles down to a 12x24 size - I still wouldn't do a running bond pattern because you will lose the slab look. Plus, if you really want a 12x24 size LFT, I'd find one that's offered in that size vs. having the larger tiles cut in half.

Here are some other LFT tiles - they are all installed in a stacked pattern - just make sure that you have an installer who knows how to install LFT tile + how to line up the veining. Both of the tiles shown below are busier than the tile you have selected - but they show how a good installer will line the veining up in order to make the tiles more closely mimic a slab:

Horizontal stacked:

Vertical stacked:

Thank you all so much for taking the time to answer and for the thought you put into the responses! Love the pictures of the bathrooms, they look fantastic. And its super helpful to see visuals. So stacked definitely makes sense. And 1/3 offset for floor tiles.

@Pat what is the tile you used for your bathroom?

If you are willing to double the price for your tile install, then do the larger tiles. He will have to go back and virtually reframe or shim the walls to all level and plumb and square. Large tile is much less tolerant of builder built homes, and originated in Europe where most homes are masonry construction that remains rather stable over time.

Our tile is Portofino Dolomite - polished 24x48 in shower, matte 12x24 on the floor and herringbone mosaic. We also liked Capri Dolomite and Vallelunga Dolomiti (same tile sold under different names) but went with the Portofino as it was the only one with the herringbone mosaic that my husband wanted.