Yes, I think those little touches are missing in romance. Actually, it kind of hit me today as my sims are on vacation that a lot of those little touches are missing. I found myself remembering how, in TS2, my sims would wait for the shuttle to pick them up and leave with their suitcase (didn't they have a suitcase???). It actually felt like they were going somewhere as opposed to just "appearing" somewhere else in TS4 (kind of like the firefighters had an actual fire truck in TS2 and just "appear" in TS4).
Eh, it is what it is. I'm glad I at least enjoy more about TS4 than I feel is missing -- it's just, if TS4 had those "little touches" it'd be THAT much better imo.