A lot of the difference is that most Americans, especially, find the idea of a pond on a links course to be unnatural. They aren't; sometimes there is an area where the ground is low and the water table high, and in these times you are not allowed to change that.
Even so, a small pond that causes a penalty stroke is usually seen as fluky and objectionable.
Of note, the pond on the 17th at Royal County Down is not situated much like the other examples you gave at all. It's 320 yards from the back tee, and the fairway to either side is 6 or 8 yards wide, which nobody is going to aim at, so it is effectively just a cross hazard with a penalty stroke tacked on for good measure. If there was room to play around one side of it, it would not be criticized nearly as much as it is, but there are holes from the relief course to both sides so they have not gone that direction.
[Also, it has long been the centerpiece of a finishing stretch that spoils what is otherwise a perfect course, for some observers.]
Tidal hazards are another matter entirely. If the 8th at Brancaster was always played at high tide, it would look and play like the most difficult hole in Florida . . . but most of the time it is played at low tide, where most of the hazard plays like a big waste bunker and it is not nearly as difficult.