I want to live, not merely survive
And I won't give up this dream
Of life that keeps me alive
I gotta be me, I gotta be me
The dream that I see makes me what I am
Those lyrics from a signature song by Sammy Davis Jr. are often part of the narrative when you listen to Eric Reid, a signature entertainer on the Oceania Riviera. He doesn't "do" 
Sammy Davis in shows on ships but he does evoke "that's who I am" and "that's what I do" regularly in discussing his craft.
"Those lyrics are everything about who I am," says the personable, gifted entertainer from Washington, DC.
Who is Eric Reid?
It depends on the day. One night he's Billy Joel or Elton John, or both. The next, he's one of several singers from the flower child era. The next, he's anybody who sings the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber. And when he sheds the cloaks of the others, he's a seasoned professional known to passengers in the on-board theaters of many cruise ships.
He has done more than "merely survive" in a business that can devour and discard its performers as quickly as yesterday's tweet. Reid has been doing what he does and "keeping his dream alive" for longer than he cares to (or wants to) admit. It began, as many such careers do, in childhood.
"I am an only child," he says. "I grew up in DC but we would go to South Carolina for Christmas and Easter to see my grandparents. They were a huge part of my life. All my family sang. It started in church…going to church is what we did. My grandfather a deacon. We always had some event to be part of, and those things exposed me to music as much as I was. We were each other's entertainment. Mother used to say: 'Eric has this thing. He can sing.'"
Fast forward through a growing number of church and school performances to college, at the University of DC.
He remembers one classic moment this way:
"I didn't know what I wanted to study but I knew I had the opportunity to go and I was going to go. I was an undeclared major. One day i went into the music department. It was 
empty. I felt like I was standing on stage. I felt music happening, this beautiful energy, in an empty building. The music chairman came in and he said: 'So you're a singer. Sing for me.' I did. Then he said 'We're going to offer you a scholarship and be part of this program.' My mom didn't believe it. That was the first time I said 'This is my life.'"
Eric was invited to join the classical department. He was stunned.
"I never thought I was a classical singer — I was 17 when I had my first professional voice lesson, " he says. "I didn't know any black male classical singers. It was good for me. It helped me accept what I wanted to be."
Clearly, what he wanted to be was the entertainer he is. From his first professional performance at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington to playing and singing The Phantom to his own one-man cabaret show called "Eric Reid Live" to a myriad of cruise-ship gigs, he has entertained. He has also lived in New York and Los Angeles, his current home base when he's not riding the seas of the Mediterranean, the Atlantic or the Caribbean.
He won't say how long he's been at it, only that it's been more than a decade, and he is ambitious to do more.
Cirque du Soleil, for instance.
"There are about 20 Cirque shows," Eric says. "I wanted to find a way to re-invent myself so I posted a demo tape on Facebook for 10 or 15 friends. One of them [named Jacuba] is a drummer in Cirque and he said: 'Eric, This is awesome. I think you'd be great.' I applied and they responded right away, but it's hard to get into that company because there's not a big turnover. I hope they'll give me an opportunity…how many classical singers are there who can go up on a trapeze while singing a high C or a B flat?"
Always athletic, Reid included his gymnastics prowess, or progress and "got pretty good!"
In keeping that dream alive, he hopes one day that will also be who Eric Reid is..
Carnival Breeze
6 nights
December 16, 2012
Miami (return): Grand Turk, Falmouth, Nassau
Inside: $439
Cost per day: $73
www.carnival.com