Middle Rhine Train Travel

Again, VRM, QdL, and Laender tickets should be bought out of vending machines at the train station, if you use the ticket window, you will be charged another 2 EUR service fee. That's fine if it is easier for you, but the machines have a "select your language" function just like ATM's, and are very user friendly.

First Class on regional trains is total overkill. Often it is just a few seats in one car. There should be plenty of room as the train you are looking at originates in Koblenz, and Boppard is the next stop. There are overhead luggage racks, luggage storage racks, and also bicycle storage areas you can leave luggage. All the commuters will be at their desks by then.

Thank you again, Sam. You can see I made some changes, per your advice, and am feeling more confident in purchasing the proper tickets.

"...one day taking the train from Boppard to begin a Rhine cruise in Bingen. We’d like to stop off in Bacharach and end in Braubach to see Marksburg castle, it time allows....

You have to arrange things so that time WILL allow - there are only so many boat options per day. If you want to visit Marksburg after your cruise, don't end the cruise in Boppard (wrong side of the river.) Better to end it in St. Goarshausen and catch a train north to Braubach from there (22 min's.) On this shorter cruise (about 1.5 hrs.) you won't miss much in the way of scenery, the best of which is between Bingen and St. Goarshausen anyway (IMHO and in that of other regulars here as well.)

Sample schedule:
Boppard 9:16
Bingen Hbf 9:46
(walk to KD dock)
Bingen KD cruise boat 10:30
St. Goarshausen KD dock 12:05
St. G'hausen station 12:32
Braubach 12:53
After lunch and a castle tour, you can return to Boppard by train via Koblenz or by train to Filsen (7 min's) + walk to ferry dock south of Filsen + ferry to Boppard.

You can fiddle with the schedules but I think you'll find that fitting in a couple of hours in Bacharach on this day doesn't work so well. It might make sense to visit Bacharach when on that day when you plan "to visit other villages and castles and pick up what we missed seeing on our cruise." St. Goar (Rheinfels Castle) and Bacharach are only 10 train minutes from each other.

"I know VRM ticket needs an added 2.20EUR fare from Oberwesel."

I don't understand this part. From Boppard a trip to Oberwesel is covered by a VRM day pass. If you travel BEYOND Oberwesel to Bacharach on a VRM pass, you each need an additional €2.60 DB ticket. If you travel beyond Oberwesel to Bingen, the additional DB fare is €4.80.

On your cruise day, a VRM pass will cover...
1.) Boppard-Oberwesel
3.) St. Goarshausen-Braubach
4.) Braubach-Koblenz-Boppard or Braubach-Filsen + ferry to Boppard (this ferry accepts the VRM pass.)

2.) If using the VRM pass this day, this Oberwesel-Bingen segment would require the additional €4.80 DB tickets mentioned above.

And if that is the case, for that particular day, instead of a VRM Minigruppenkarte for 22.10 EUR, get an R-P ticket for 29 EUR.

This is all valuable information to consider. The train system may be great, but it is also quite confusing if you want consider the optional tickets that can offer savings.

The KD "hop-on/hop-off" cruise sure does not work as easily as the boats in Cinque Terre. So, after analyzing the KD port information, only the first 9:30am boat from Bingen goes all the way to Braubach (if you so choose) and still have time to see Marksburg Castle. This may explain why so many people just get off at St. Goarshausen (besides the longer, less appealing journey.) The last two cruise boats from Bingen don't reach Braubach until 5:20pm and 7:20pm. That makes it pretty much impossible to enjoy any time in Bacharach (maybe 45 min.) or any other town on this schedule, unless you take another ship that ends in St. Goarshausen, or give up seeing Marksurg with a late boat to Braubach.

The KD boats are really not meant to be hop-on/hop-off. They take tourists up and down the scenic Rhine gorge. Hordes of tour groups board at Ruedesheim and get off at St Goar or Boppard to their waiting tour buses. In that stretch, the PA makes announcements in German, English, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Mandarin Chinese.
For village hopping, the trains with a Laender ticket work a lot better. Trains are more frequent and a lot faster.

Is there only one type of KD ticket or pass? For instance, purchasing a point to point ticket that also allows you to either stay on the boat for the entire cruise or get off the boat at one town and catch a later boat ?

When taking the train from Boppard to Bingen. Which of two Bingen train stations is better for arrival to take the KD cruise?
Does getting off at the Bingen Hbf station require about a 20 min. walk to the KD dock?
Bingen (Rhein) Stadt puts us closer to the boat dock, but involves another train with a transfer time of 12 min.

I am also confirming train ticket passes and our options:
Rheinland-Pfalz ticket, is valid only after 9:00 on weekdays.
The daily VRM Minigruppenkarte is also only valid after 9 am weekdays (plus add’l DB fare from Oberwesel to Bingen).
Does a 3-day VRM pass also only allow travel after 9 am.?

I was hoping to take a 9:30 KD boat from Bingen, and need to be there 15 min. early to purchase our tickets. Coming from Boppard, if I choose either of the R-P or VRM Minigruppenkarte, I realize it isn’t possible catch the 9:30 KD boat. My only choices would be: 1) purchase a point to point DB train ticket leaving Boppard at 8:15 (€ 21 for two and paying for add’l fare to return to Boppard),
2) OR purchase a R-P ticket and take a later boat with St. Goarshausen as our last stop to take the train to Braubach.

My only choices would be: 1) purchase a point to point DB train ticket leaving Boppard at 8:15 (€ 21 for two and paying for add’l fare to return to Boppard),
2) OR purchase a R-P ticket and take a later boat with St. Goarshausen as our last stop to take the train to Braubach.

Correct. But if you remain on the boat all the way to Boppard, there is no return fare to deal with. If you get off before (or after) you get to Boppard, then you will have to buy train tickets back to Boppard. But you can see, they are not that expensive.

I've always gotten off at the Bingen Stadt station but my trains didn't require a change.

The Regionalbahns (RB) stop at Bingen Stadt, the Regional Express (RE) trains do not. So depending your on scheduling, taking an RE to Bingen Hbf and doubling back to Bingen Stadt on the RB works. It actually can be a little quicker, since the RE has limited stops and covers the distance faster than the RB, which makes every single stop.

Thank you for the information.