diff --git a/test-suite-docker/src/test/groovy/io/micronaut/crac/test/BaseSpec.groovy b/test-suite-docker/src/test/groovy/io/micronaut/crac/test/BaseSpec.groovy
index de08b77b..b605f42e 100644
--- a/test-suite-docker/src/test/groovy/io/micronaut/crac/test/BaseSpec.groovy
+++ b/test-suite-docker/src/test/groovy/io/micronaut/crac/test/BaseSpec.groovy
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@ package io.micronaut.crac.test
 
 import io.micronaut.http.client.BlockingHttpClient
 import io.micronaut.http.client.HttpClient
+import org.slf4j.Logger
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory
+import org.testcontainers.containers.ContainerFetchException
 import org.testcontainers.containers.GenericContainer
 import org.testcontainers.containers.wait.strategy.Wait
 import org.testcontainers.utility.DockerImageName
@@ -11,20 +14,35 @@ import spock.lang.Specification
 
 abstract class BaseSpec extends Specification {
 
+    private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(BaseSpec.class);
+
     @Shared
     @AutoCleanup
-    GenericContainer application = new GenericContainer(DockerImageName.parse("test-suite-docker:latest"))
-            .withPrivilegedMode(true)
-            .withExposedPorts(8080)
-            .withLogConsumer { print "DOCKER: $it.utf8String" }
-            .waitingFor(Wait.forHttp("/"))
+    GenericContainer application
 
     @Shared
     @AutoCleanup
     BlockingHttpClient client
 
     def setupSpec() {
-        application.start()
-        client = HttpClient.create(URI.create("http://${application.getHost()}:${application.getMappedPort(8080)}").toURL()).toBlocking()
+        application = new GenericContainer(DockerImageName.parse("test-suite-docker:latest"))
+                .withPrivilegedMode(true)
+                .withExposedPorts(8080)
+                .withLogConsumer { print "DOCKER: $it.utf8String" }
+                .waitingFor(Wait.forHttp("/"))
+        try {
+            application.start()
+            client = HttpClient.create(URI.create("http://${application.getHost()}:${application.getMappedPort(8080)}").toURL()).toBlocking()
+        } catch (ContainerFetchException e) {
+            LOG.error("""Failed to fetch the image for the test.
+                        |
+                        |This image should have been built by previous tasks in the build, so this is
+                        |probably caused by the use of TestContainers Cloud.
+                        |${'*' * 80}
+                        |Please switch TestContainers desktop to run containers locally, and try again.
+                        |${'*' * 80}""".stripMargin(),
+                    e
+            )
+        }
     }
 }
diff --git a/test-suite-docker/src/test/groovy/io/micronaut/crac/test/InfoSpec.groovy b/test-suite-docker/src/test/groovy/io/micronaut/crac/test/InfoSpec.groovy
index a81e922c..f594e647 100644
--- a/test-suite-docker/src/test/groovy/io/micronaut/crac/test/InfoSpec.groovy
+++ b/test-suite-docker/src/test/groovy/io/micronaut/crac/test/InfoSpec.groovy
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
 package io.micronaut.crac.test
 
+import spock.lang.Requires
+
 class InfoSpec extends BaseSpec {
 
+    @Requires({ instance.application.running })
     def "info is exposed as expected"() {
         when:
         Map result = client.retrieve("/info", Map)