diff --git a/ansible/roles/common/tasks/main.yml b/ansible/roles/common/tasks/main.yml
index e09459f..e553d72 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/common/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/ansible/roles/common/tasks/main.yml
@@ -10,13 +10,24 @@
   register: cloud_init_wait
   changed_when: false
   failed_when: >-
-    cloud_init_wait.rc not in [0, 2] or
+    cloud_init_wait.rc not in [0, 1, 2] or
     (
       'status: done' not in cloud_init_wait.stdout and
+      'status: error' not in cloud_init_wait.stdout and
       'status: disabled' not in cloud_init_wait.stdout
     )
   when: cloud_init_binary.rc == 0
 
+- name: Report non-blocking cloud-init error status
+  debug:
+    msg: |
+      cloud-init completed with status error on {{ inventory_hostname }}; continuing because SSH is reachable and Ansible owns package setup.
+      {{ cloud_init_wait.stdout | default('') }}
+      {{ cloud_init_wait.stderr | default('') }}
+  when:
+    - cloud_init_binary.rc == 0
+    - cloud_init_wait.rc == 1 or 'status: error' in (cloud_init_wait.stdout | default(''))
+
 - name: Persist primary interface MTU for registry egress
   copy:
     dest: /etc/netplan/99-k8s-mtu.yaml