I knew this sounded familiar!
According to snopes, this email has been going around for a while (since 2003), then slowly morphed into a 'cruise ship' version. The funny thing is, there actually are a few people who have retired on cruise ships, though no evidence they have retired at Holiday Inn.
I seem to remember someone telling me that a few people had retired at a Marriott, though.
snopes.com: Retirement on Cruise Ship