Flooring Tile - Shower Replacement Advice

My wife has been on my butt for several years to remodel the bathroom and I'm finally going to do it. :eek: The first step is to replace an old 3-sided fiberglass shower that has cracks in the pan. The bathroom has a wood subfloor.

One question is what is the best replacement for it? :confused: I have thought about buying a solid panel shower system like Swanstone. But the panels look too thin to me. Also, the pan seems to be not very sturdy. Anyone have any pros or cons on Swanstone?

Another alternative is cultured marble or granite. The panels and pan seem sturdier but it's going to cost around $1800. The pan alone was quoted at $500. We don't have a big budget.

I also saw something called TransSolid at Lowe's similar to cultured marble which was a little cheaper. Anyone have experience with this?

Then there is tile. My wife doesn't want tile because she doesn't want to clean the grout. But I can tile the thing for around $500 bucks. I've followed some of the shower tile threads. This will be a considerable amount of work. Can't I use 12" marble granite tiles with non sanded grout for the walls with a small gap?

I could also do a combination of TranSolid pan with tile.

Do solid shower pans need a mortar bed underneath? And do you put the mortar bed right over the sub-floor?

Also, there will be dry rot and I will need to replace the sub-floor under and around the shower. The sub-floor is 4X8 panels. I will have to cut the floor out flush with the bottom plate and build a support framing. Is there anything special I need to know about this?

Tomorrow I'll begin ripping out the shower to see what I've got.

Any advice, suggestions, or help is appreciated.