That actually doesn't happen all that much in Star Trek, IMO. Kirk took his promotion but regretted being a desk jockey. That's why he forced his way onto Decker's ship ( which was within his right as Admiralm it just sucked for Decker). Kirk's ship stealing actions during Searck for Spock, saw him get demoted ( he and his crew saved Earth in Voyage Home.... they weren't getting Court Martialed) to the job he wanted anyway.
Spock was Captain of the Enterprise during most of this but was fine with training cadets in that capacity.
Chekhov got promoted to First Officer, lost his Captain and his Ship. That might be why he didn't get another ship afterwards.
Sulu, had to wait for a ship to become available before he could become Captain. Him getting the Excelsior might mean they didn't have Captain slots open. Maybe nobody on the other Constitution Class ships was retiring.
Lord knows Kirk wasn't.
The others, McCoy, Scotty and Uhura probably would have retired long before if left to themselves but stuck it out because thier buddies Kirk and Spock weren't going anywhere.
Really only Riker during the TNG era actively refused promotion.
He had his heart set on taking over Enterprise when Picard retired. Moreover he had been reunited with Troi and he wasn't going to just leave her again.
Since he eventually ended up with both a ship and Troi it worked out for him just fine.