diff --git a/cli/app/deploy.go b/cli/app/deploy.go
index fe758a0a..a7e0c8a8 100644
--- a/cli/app/deploy.go
+++ b/cli/app/deploy.go
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ checkout as-is. Recipe commit hashes are also supported as values for
 
 		toDeployVersion, err = getDeployVersion(args, deployMeta, app)
 		if err != nil {
-			log.Fatal(i18n.G("get deploy version: %s", err))
+			log.Fatal(err)
 		}
 
 		if !internal.Chaos {
@@ -348,7 +348,12 @@ func getDeployVersion(cliArgs []string, deployMeta stack.DeployMeta, app appPkg.
 	// Check if the recipe has a version in the .env file
 	if app.Recipe.EnvVersion != "" && !internal.DeployLatest {
 		if strings.HasSuffix(app.Recipe.EnvVersionRaw, "+U") {
-			return "", errors.New(i18n.G("version: can not redeploy chaos version %s", app.Recipe.EnvVersionRaw))
+			// NOTE(d1): use double-line 5 spaces ("FATA ") trick to make a more
+			// informative error message. it's ugly but that's our logging situation
+			// atm
+			return "", errors.New(i18n.G(`cannot redeploy previous chaos version (%s), did you mean to use "--chaos"?
+     to return to a regular release, specify a release tag, commit SHA or use "--latest"`,
+				formatter.BoldDirtyDefault(app.Recipe.EnvVersionRaw)))
 		}
 		log.Debug(i18n.G("version: taking version from .env file: %s", app.Recipe.EnvVersion))
 		return app.Recipe.EnvVersion, nil
diff --git a/pkg/recipe/git.go b/pkg/recipe/git.go
index 73b17f2a..e487e011 100644
--- a/pkg/recipe/git.go
+++ b/pkg/recipe/git.go
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ func (r Recipe) Ensure(ctx EnsureContext) error {
 	if r.EnvVersion != "" && !ctx.IgnoreEnvVersion {
 		log.Debug(i18n.G("ensuring env version %s", r.EnvVersion))
 		if strings.Contains(r.EnvVersion, "+U") {
-			return errors.New(i18n.G("can not redeploy chaos version (%s) without --chaos", r.EnvVersion))
+			return errors.New(i18n.G(`cannot redeploy previous chaos version (%s), did you mean to use "--chaos"?`))
 		}
 
 		if _, err := r.EnsureVersion(r.EnvVersion); err != nil {