More like: only in America do people whine as if they are owed something, the moment they hear about it.
The fact, is, other countries did not convert overnight. Not even close. It's taken years / decades for them to get where they are.
Also, unlike much of the world, US banks have had the advantage all these years of realtime authorizations, plus some of the most sophisticated fraud detection authorization software on the planet... which has allowed them to delay while other banks had no choice.
Most importantly, EMV is a two decade old standard that might not be the best solution for today. I think that US banks are still feeling out what really should be done for the future.
Actually, I quite like the fact that I don't have to enter a PIN for credit transactions, and that I'm fully covered for any fraud.
I agree with you about vacation, though