Not really. I had one with medium sized rocks and it was not much different than cleaning any other grouted tile. I lived in a very dry climate though, might have been worse somewhere humid.

Nah, I never regretted the floor, and like someone else replied it was no more difficult to clean than a tile floor, maybe with a bit more grout to deal with since the spacing was irregular. The real key was keeping it sealed, there was a noticeable difference in how quickly it would begin to get dingy between cleanings when the sealing was wearing off.

All the more reason to hate the bench though, it broke up what should have been a great wall to wall shower floor and was the only thing that kept the shower from being perfect.