BEAV

When you say "tax" do you really mean gratuity? I know that's the case with drinks purchased a la carte ... a gratuity is automatically added to your bill. As with most cruise line drink packages that are included "free" as part of a promotion, you are not charged extra for gratuity either on the package itself -or- separately when you order a drink. The gratuity is included as part of the promotion.

When you purchase a beverage package, it's common that 15-18% gratuity is added to the daily price of the package and not on a drink-by-drink basis when you order. The only exception to this that I know of is with NCL. When they include the drink package free as a promotion, they still charge you 18% gratuity up front on the value of the package (pro-rated on a daily basis).