I suspect that the preference can depend upon the water pressure and whether or not the hot turns cold when someone elsewhere turns on a tap.

The last can be worked out (hotels do it, for instance, at least here in the States), but I've noticed that water pressure seems to be an issue in Ireland and the UK, at least.

Both, however, are far ahead of the US in that "local" water heaters are pretty common: you can heat up water for your bath or shower right there, and not have to wait for it to come from a central hot water tank. Thankfully, this is slowly being put into place in US homes.

When I was at Cambridge (Girton, for a meeting) the baths were down the hall, as was the loo, and OLD they were, too! When I was in college (we had to fight dinosaurs just to get to class, so you know how long ago THAT was) there were communal toilets and baths in the dorms (ha! I lived at home, with a communal toilet and shower). In the Army -- well, things were definitely communal.

Showers. Definitely showers, unless I want to REALLY relax or soak out some kinks. FWIW, we have both a large shower and a shower/tub combination.

Someday, I'd like to find a tub REALLY made for soaking, tho....