I'm sure cruises are much nicer now, but my husband and I tend to be very solitary people-we live in a small rural community, and work in the city-and that is the only place we want to see crowds. Our vacations tend to be to remote places we can get to by car/truck and where we won't be surrounded by people.
Nothing wrong with the vacations you describe. One of the nicest times I had was during a recent Florida trip -- a friend and I had this parcel of beach all to ourselves -- it wasn't cold, but it was foggy, so it drove away all the sun worshipers. Nothing like breathing in the salt air, listening to the seagulls and the waves coming ashore, and gazing upon a blue-green ocean...without people with boom boxes, drunks spilling beer all over, etc. etc. I just parked my fat carcass on a lounge chair and savored the solitude.