Several years ago I needed to make some improvements in my Bathroom, including replacing the linoleum flooring with ceramic tile. Originally my wife had suggested the idea of installing ceramic tile in the bathroom, however, I was concerned on having to install an underlayment (such as 1/4" plywood) as well as the ceramic tile. Trying to cut all the jogs around the cabinet, closet, toilet and tub would have been extremely difficult. In addition, I was concerned about raising the bathroom floor 1/2 inch in height.
After a little investigation, I found to my surprise that laying tile over linoleum is possible. It turns out that installing ceramic tile over Linoleum, as long as you prepare the Linoleum floor first, and as long as the subfloor underneath the linoleum is stable.