Grand Piano in the MDR? Strolling Strings?

[gmerick]

Dining highlight was when a string ensemble or quartet stroll through the dining room while playing.

[sassycruiser]

Loved that.  Made dinner feel “special”.

[zdcatc12]

Heck, I remember that even the Dolphin IV had a piano in the dining room!!

[CGTNORMANDIE]

It was very common for the transatlantic liners to have musical interludes during dinner.  Some ships even had orchestra balconies overlooking the dining room and printed programs listing the musical numbers to be played at each dinner.  The Italians had a strolling minstrel with two violins to back him up while he sang romantic ballads.  The Germans had violins at tea time and the Germans and the Brits had a giant organ in one of the lounges in the late afternoon and at night.  The Germans also had a ship’s brass band made up of the crew and officers that would play ump-pa-pa music on deck in the mornings.  The French had a music room dedicated to playing recorded classics during the daytime.  Bands and orchestras traveling on the Queens would routinely play special concerts in the main lounges.  I, myself, performed with a drum and bugle corps in the Queen’s Lounge onboard the old Queen Elizabeth when I was 16 years old!