diff --git a/cli/cmd/cluster.go b/cli/cmd/cluster.go
index 93eef840c5..629dcc1480 100644
--- a/cli/cmd/cluster.go
+++ b/cli/cmd/cluster.go
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ var _upCmd = &cobra.Command{
 			exit.Error(err)
 		}
 		if exitCode == nil || *exitCode != 0 {
-			helpStr := "\nDebugging tips (may not apply to this error):"
+			helpStr := "\nDebugging tips (may or may not apply to this error):"
 			helpStr += fmt.Sprintf("\n* if your cluster started spinning up but was unable to provision instances, additional error information may be found in the activity history of your cluster's autoscaling groups (select each autoscaling group and click the \"Activity History\" tab): https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/autoscaling/home?region=%s#AutoScalingGroups:", *clusterConfig.Region)
 			helpStr += fmt.Sprintf("\n* if your cluster started spinning up, please ensure that your CloudFormation stacks for this cluster have been fully deleted before trying to spin up this cluster again: https://console.aws.amazon.com/cloudformation/home?region=%s#/stacks?filteringText=-%s-", *clusterConfig.Region, clusterConfig.ClusterName)
 			fmt.Println(helpStr)
@@ -219,7 +219,7 @@ var _updateCmd = &cobra.Command{
 			exit.Error(err)
 		}
 		if exitCode == nil || *exitCode != 0 {
-			helpStr := "\nDebugging tips (may not apply to this error):"
+			helpStr := "\nDebugging tips (may or may not apply to this error):"
 			helpStr += fmt.Sprintf("\n* if your cluster was unable to provision instances, additional error information may be found in the activity history of your cluster's autoscaling groups (select each autoscaling group and click the  \"Activity History\" tab): https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/autoscaling/home?region=%s#AutoScalingGroups:", *clusterConfig.Region)
 			fmt.Println(helpStr)
 			exit.Error(ErrorClusterUpdate(out + helpStr))
diff --git a/manager/install.sh b/manager/install.sh
index ec1a6be41c..7dc05adf25 100755
--- a/manager/install.sh
+++ b/manager/install.sh
@@ -202,7 +202,11 @@ function main() {
   python update_cli_config.py "/.cortex/cli.yaml" "$CORTEX_ENV_NAME" "$operator_endpoint" "$CORTEX_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID" "$CORTEX_AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY"
   echo "✓"
 
-  echo -e "\ncortex is ready!"
+  if [ "$arg1" != "--update" ] && [ "$CORTEX_OPERATOR_LOAD_BALANCER_SCHEME" == "internal" ]; then
+    echo -e "\ncortex is ready! (it may take a few minutes for your private operator load balancer to finish initializing, but you may now set up VPC Peering)"
+  else
+    echo -e "\ncortex is ready!"
+  fi
 }
 
 function setup_configmap() {
@@ -269,6 +273,8 @@ function setup_istio() {
 function validate_cortex() {
   set +e
 
+  validation_start_time="$(date +%s)"
+
   echo -n "￮ waiting for load balancers "
 
   operator_load_balancer="waiting"
@@ -278,6 +284,13 @@ function validate_cortex() {
   operator_endpoint=""
 
   while true; do
+    # 30 minute timeout
+    now="$(date +%s)"
+    if [ "$now" -ge "$(($validation_start_time+1800))" ]; then
+      echo -e "\n\ntimeout has occurred when validating your cortex cluster"
+      exit 1
+    fi
+
     echo -n "."
     sleep 3
 
@@ -315,7 +328,7 @@ function validate_cortex() {
 
     if [ "$CORTEX_OPERATOR_LOAD_BALANCER_SCHEME" == "internet-facing" ]; then
       if [ "$operator_endpoint_reachable" != "ready" ]; then
-        if ! curl $operator_endpoint >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+        if ! curl --max-time 3 $operator_endpoint >/dev/null 2>&1; then
           continue
         fi
         operator_endpoint_reachable="ready"