Yes, they have the same sort of "describe without actually describing" ability that Anne McCaffrey has. I remember someone asking about dancing on Pern and getting the response "Oh, there are lots of descriptions" -- er, two which did any more than just say "there was dancing" and none which actually described any of the dances, but the fans were convinced that it had been narrated in detail.

(I would have sworn that Cheever had been described as well, he's just so 'present'.)