What is with the half shower doors?

Is it just me, or are UK tubs higher off the ground than American tubs? They look that way in the picture above.

I have noticed this, but only in hotels, so it may be only newer tubs that are like this.  The one in our house is at what I'd consider a normal level, but I've definitely stumbled getting out of hotel tubs cuz of the height. 

Yeah, we have one. I don't mind much. There is a bit of water on the floor sometimes, but nothing a towel won't handle.  I like the feeling of openness while in the shower, and no icky curtain or crappy sliding door.

Now I get it.  I kept envisaging a Dutch door sort of thing (vertically half)     No, not wild about those but would be happy to have any kind of shower in the UK house!!

I kept envisaging a Dutch door sort of thing (vertically half) 

LOL! No wonder you were confused! 

We have a separate shower room and then we have the Jacuzzi jet tub as a separate unit.
I like the new (to me) trend in the hotels. The shower curtain instead of being on a straight rail the rail is in an arch so they give you more space to maneuver and avoid contact with the curtain.

Irrational paranoia here, but I don't like glass doors on my shower. I'm afraid I'll slip and fall through them.

Yep, I have the same fear.  I especially didn't like the half ones because I was scared I'd fall into it and it would give way, open, and I'd fall out of the tub.  Which I actually sort of did, in our last flat in Edinburgh.  So it wasn't as irrational as I originally thought.

I also don't like how you're basically naked to the entire bathroom.  Usually that's not a big deal but if you've got a frosted shower door or cloth shower curtain over a liner, at least someone could come in the bathroom while someone else is in the shower if need be.  I guess you get the same thing with clear shower curtains, but even those usually have some sort of design on them so they're not totally see-through.

That being said, my parents just had a new shower put in their bathroom (in the US) and it's got a clear glass enclosure all around it.  I love it!

I prefer a full shower curtain, cause I like keeping all the steam in and getting nice and cosy in a hot shower.  It did take some getting used to the half door in my first flat, but once I had the shower positioned the right way there was no flooding.  That said...when a guest from the US came over they would inevitably flood the bathroom floor during their first shower.  I always tried to prepare people for that.

I think tubs are higher and deeper than your average US tub.  I definitely pay more attention to getting out of a tub here, so that I don't slip and fall.  I have to say that at 9 months pregnant it's getting pretty treacherous.  If DH is home I call him in to help me step out of the tub.  I wouldn't change it though....the baths I take are so much nicer here than in the US.  The water actually gets high enough to cover all my bits

What freaks me out is no door at all.  A lot of places in France and Spain don't have them at all... you just mop up the floor.  Though most of them had hand held showers which helped control splash.  One pension I stay in in Spain had a shower room that also had the sink and toilet in it.  Very odd indeed.  You had a shower and the whole thing got soaking wet. 

One pension I stay in in Spain had a shower room that also had the sink and toilet in it.  Very odd indeed.  You had a shower and the whole thing got soaking wet. 

We stayed somewhere in Amsterdam (self-catering) like that before.  I think it's called a 'wet room'.

One pension I stay in in Spain had a shower room that also had the sink and toilet in it.  Very odd indeed.  You had a shower and the whole thing got soaking wet. 

When DH was a postgraduate and lived in hall (this was the UK), they had a setup like that.  And it was shared between two single rooms I think.
Yes, jolly old baths in Blighty are higher than what Americans are used to.  And quite a bit longer -- so you can do that total submersion thing.

I'm not hugely fond of the half-door yet.  I always seem to splash water out at the far back end (yes, I'm talented!).

You had a shower and the whole thing got soaking wet. 

I HATE wet rooms more than I hate half doors, by far. But I'm willing to tolerate them when on holiday - not in my own home!

I HATE wet rooms more than I hate half doors, by far. But I'm willing to tolerate them when on holiday - not in my own home!

see wet rooms don't bug me because the whole thing is made to be wet and is basically a giant shower. With the half door thing you get water on the wall or floor and risk mold (which i am deathly worried about)

Ugh. Nope. I don't want my floors and sinks and toilet wet even if they are designed to be. Esp in the UK where I can never get the bathrooms to dry out properly. Just my experience though.