diff --git a/cli/commands.go b/cli/commands.go
index 3290af51..d6378f84 100644
--- a/cli/commands.go
+++ b/cli/commands.go
@@ -84,10 +84,6 @@ func CreateCluster(c *cli.Context) error {
 	}
 	log.Printf("Created cluster network with ID %s", networkID)
 
-	if c.IsSet("timeout") && !c.IsSet("wait") {
-		return errors.New("Cannot use --timeout flag without --wait flag")
-	}
-
 	// environment variables
 	env := []string{"K3S_KUBECONFIG_OUTPUT=/output/kubeconfig.yaml"}
 	if c.IsSet("env") || c.IsSet("e") {
@@ -142,11 +138,15 @@ func CreateCluster(c *cli.Context) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
+	if c.IsSet("timeout") {
+		log.Println("[Warning] The --timeout flag is deprecated. use '--wait <timeout>' instead")
+	}
+
 	// Wait for k3s to be up and running if wanted.
 	// We're simply scanning the container logs for a line that tells us that everything's up and running
 	// TODO: also wait for worker nodes
 	start := time.Now()
-	timeout := time.Duration(c.Int("timeout")) * time.Second
+	timeout := time.Duration(c.Int("wait")) * time.Second
 	for c.IsSet("wait") {
 		// not running after timeout exceeded? Rollback and delete everything.
 		if timeout != 0 && !time.Now().After(start.Add(timeout)) {
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 90f6d30b..494a3b08 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -83,11 +83,12 @@ func main() {
 				cli.IntFlag{
 					Name:  "timeout, t",
 					Value: 0,
-					Usage: "Set the timeout value when --wait flag is set",
+					Usage: "Set the timeout value when --wait flag is set (deprecated, use --wait <timeout> instead)",
 				},
-				cli.BoolFlag{
+				cli.IntFlag{
 					Name:  "wait, w",
-					Usage: "Wait for the cluster to come up before returning",
+					Value: 0, // timeout
+					Usage: "Wait for the cluster to come up before returning until timoout (in seconds). Use --wait 0 to wait forever",
 				},
 				cli.StringFlag{
 					Name:  "image, i",