diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 3ecef068..644ecb47 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -11,6 +11,11 @@ notifications:
 services:
     - cassandra
 
+before_script:
+  # give some more time for Cassandra to finish startup and actually test it
+  - sleep 10
+  - sudo service cassandra status
+
 install:
     - python setup.py develop