Steve L. Manning and his wife were having the time of their lives last week during their first voyage aboard a cruise ship, until the trip turned tragic -- Steve vanished.

"We were so happy and Steve was so proud of himself," Steve's wife Tera Manning said Thursday from her Ottawa living room. "He had a brand new suit and tied his own tie. He was proud of that, because he had never been able to tie one until my mother showed him. We had left the whole world behind."

Tera believes Steve was robbed and thrown overboard. The FBI, which is responsible for the investigation, said it does not suspect foul play.

The Ottawa couple, married in 2007, boarded the Victory, a Carnival Cruise Lines ship in Miami on April 20 -- the day after Steve's 44th birthday -- for a seven-day trip through the Caribbean. Tera believes Steve disappeared sometime during the early morning of April 22 while the ship was at sea, about 38 miles off the coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and Cancun. (See below for link to related timeline article.)

On Thursday, Tera recalled the events immediately before and after Steve went missing.

Late on the night of April 21, Tera and Steve were socializing in a bar on the ship when Tera decided to return to their cabin. She said she asked Steve to go with her, but Steve, who had been drinking, refused. Tera said she presumed he wanted to play more blackjack in the casino.

Tera returned to the cabin and went to sleep. She said Steve could have returned to the cabin about 1 a.m. because she believed she heard the door and movement in the room. She woke about 8:30 a.m., finding Steve's cell phone, wristwatch, tie and necklace in the cabin. Tera and Steve's brother, Keith Manning, both said Steve never went anywhere without his cell phone. The fact the items were in the cabin makes Tera suspect Steve did return, but then left. However, the Mannings' room charge cards were missing. The cards are given passengers to charge expenses, to electroncially enter cabins and to leave and board the ship.

The ship docked at Cozumel about 8 a.m., but Tera said she never left the boat that day.

After Tera woke, room service brought a meal she had not ordered and which she did not believe Steve would have ordered -- it contained raw fish and hot tea, food and drink neither of them would consume. Tera doubts the meal is relevant to Steve's disappearance.

Tera was not troubled by Steve's absence because the ship's bars closed at 4 a.m. and reopened at 6 a.m., so she believed he was at one of them.

Tera went back to sleep before waking again about 11 a.m. As hours passed and there was no Steve, Tera said she became angry and frustrated he was not there, but figured he was somewhere else on the ship. By about 4 p.m., she had grown worried enough to contact the ship's staff.

"This wasn't funny anymore. I was scared," Tera recalled, choking on tears.

From that point, events seemed to go in slow motion, as she said security personnel seemed unconcerned and slack in taking action. About 7 p.m., after the ship left Cozumel, Tera said staff announced a man was missing and had passengers go to their cabins. Staff circulated a black-and-white photograph of Steve, taken by one of the ship's cameras, that was a poor image in Tera's view. One of Steve's daughters from a prior relationship, Jennifer -- who was not on the trip -- since has contacted a person who was on board; the person said they were not shown Steve's photo and the cabin-to-cabin search by staff consisted of looking through the cabin's open door.

The U.S. Coast Guard has said Steve was reported missing at 7 p.m., but Tera noted she made the report several hours earlier and the onboard search didn't begin until about 7 p.m.

After reporting Steve's disappearance, ship staff took her to the infirmary, where she was given sedatives. She then was put in a small, windowless cabin with a security officer posted outside. Staff took her and Steve's cell phones, per the FBI, Tera was told. A staff member would occasionally visit her, explaining the arrangements were standard operating procedure.

"I was bawling my eyes out," Tera remembered of this time.

Security officers asked if Steve could have committed suicide by jumping into the sea, but Tera dismissed the idea. Family members Thursday agreed with Tera. Steve's brother, Keith Manning, said he talked via phone with Steve while he was at sea, with Steve wanting to know how the weekend went at Chugger'Z, the downtown Ottawa bar Steve opened in 2006.

After reporting the disappearance, ship staff secured the Mannings' cabin. She was permitted to return to the cabin once to gather a change of clothes, makeup and toiletries. Ship personnel called Keith Manning in Ottawa, who was listed as the person to notify in an emergency, to tell him Steve had vanished. Keith said he wanted to speak to Tera, but staff refused.

The Coast Guard conducted an aerial search across 1,500 square miles of sea on April 23, but stopped, saying they believed there was little chance Steve would still be alive in the water.

Tera stayed in the windowless cabin through Thursday when the ship docked in the Cayman Islands. She said she didn't want to leave the boat in case Steve turned up, but ship staff insisted she leave. Tera's daughter was flown to the Cayman Islands to meet her mother. The Mannings were alone on the cruise, but were to have met friends at a stop later in the trip.

Since departing the ship eight days ago, Tera said the only time the cruise line contacted her was Monday, when they called to verify her address so they could mail the rest of her belongings.

A female FBI agent also called Monday to interview Tera.

Tera said she told the agent about a receipt she found in the cabin, indicating Steve bought a Bud Light -- Steve's preferred beer -- and three other drinks about midnight the night he vanished. The receipt was from Steve's room charge card. Tera said she told ship security to try to find the people for whom Steve bought the three other drinks, but security seemed uninterested. The FBI agent said she had not known of the receipt.

The agent noted there are many places on the ship not covered by surveillance cameras.

Tera found the FBI agent pleasant and interested, unlike Carnival Cruise Lines.

"I'm so mad at them! They just didn't give a damn!" Tera said with clenched fists and teary eyes.

Tera believes the 5-foot, 8-inch, 200-pound Steve was robbed and thrown overboard because he was wearing an expensive ring and liked to flash money.

"He was always one to buy drinks for people," she explained.

Steve's 24-year-old daughter Jennifer contacted an American embassy official in Mexico, getting reassurance that hospitals, jails and morgues along the Caribbean coast of Mexico and possibly in Cuba, would be checked. Jennifer pointed out she was disturbed she had to contact the embassy, suggesting it should have been done by the FBI.

Steve has two daughters and one son. Keith Manning said his 11-year-old nephew is in denial his dad is gone.

After being closed for a time last week, Chugger'Z is again open.

"It was Steve's pride and joy," said 20-year-old stepdaughter Melinda Huber.

The week since Steve went missing has been extremely difficult for Tera and other relatives.

"I feel I'm on a merry-go-round and I just keep going round and round, and I can't see off of it," Tera lamented. "I keep expecting him to come home. He had his faults like anyone, but he was a great guy. Things were really getting good for Steve. He had so many plans for the summer."