diff --git a/cmd/soroban-cli/src/commands/network/shared.rs b/cmd/soroban-cli/src/commands/network/shared.rs
index f219b41c21..cf1d1889e6 100644
--- a/cmd/soroban-cli/src/commands/network/shared.rs
+++ b/cmd/soroban-cli/src/commands/network/shared.rs
@@ -31,13 +31,47 @@ impl fmt::Display for Network {
     }
 }
 
-pub fn connect_to_docker(
+pub async fn connect_to_docker(
     docker_socket_path: &Option<String>,
 ) -> Result<Docker, bollard::errors::Error> {
-    if docker_socket_path.is_some() {
+    let docker = if docker_socket_path.is_some() {
         let socket = docker_socket_path.as_ref().unwrap();
-        Docker::connect_with_socket(socket, DEFAULT_TIMEOUT, API_DEFAULT_VERSION)
+        let connection = Docker::connect_with_socket(socket, DEFAULT_TIMEOUT, API_DEFAULT_VERSION)?;
+        check_docker_connection(&connection).await?;
+        connection
     } else {
-        Docker::connect_with_socket_defaults()
+        let connection = Docker::connect_with_socket_defaults()?;
+        check_docker_connection(&connection).await?;
+        connection
+    };
+    Ok(docker)
+}
+
+// When bollard is not able to connect to the docker daemon, it returns a generic ConnectionRefused error
+// This method attempts to connect to the docker daemon and returns a more specific error message
+pub async fn check_docker_connection(docker: &Docker) -> Result<(), bollard::errors::Error> {
+    // This is a bit hacky, but the `client_addr` field is not directly accessible from the `Docker` struct, but we can access it from the debug string representation of the `Docker` struct
+    let docker_debug_string = format!("{:#?}", docker);
+    let start_of_client_addr = docker_debug_string.find("client_addr: ").unwrap();
+    let end_of_client_addr = docker_debug_string[start_of_client_addr..]
+        .find(',')
+        .unwrap();
+    // Extract the substring containing the value of client_addr
+    let client_addr = &docker_debug_string
+        [start_of_client_addr + "client_addr: ".len()..start_of_client_addr + end_of_client_addr]
+        .trim()
+        .trim_matches('"');
+
+    match docker.version().await {
+        Ok(_version) => Ok(()),
+        Err(err) => {
+            println!(
+                "⛔️ Failed to connect to the Docker daemon at {:?}. Is the docker daemon running?\n
+                Running a local Stellar network requires a Docker-compatible container runtime.\n
+                Also, please note that if you are using Docker Desktop, you may need to utilize the `--docker-socket-path` flag to pass in the location of the docker socket on your machine.",
+                client_addr
+            );
+            Err(err)
+        }
     }
 }
diff --git a/cmd/soroban-cli/src/commands/network/start.rs b/cmd/soroban-cli/src/commands/network/start.rs
index 1a8a097db1..3eaad97345 100644
--- a/cmd/soroban-cli/src/commands/network/start.rs
+++ b/cmd/soroban-cli/src/commands/network/start.rs
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
+use std::collections::HashMap;
+
 use bollard::{
     container::{Config, CreateContainerOptions, StartContainerOptions},
     image::CreateImageOptions,
     service::{HostConfig, PortBinding},
 };
 use futures_util::TryStreamExt;
-use std::collections::HashMap;
 
 use crate::commands::network::shared::connect_to_docker;
 use crate::commands::network::shared::Network;
@@ -14,7 +15,7 @@ const DOCKER_IMAGE: &str = "docker.io/stellar/quickstart";
 
 #[derive(thiserror::Error, Debug)]
 pub enum Error {
-    #[error("Failed to start container: {0}")]
+    #[error("⛔ ️Failed to start container: {0}")]
     StartContainerError(#[from] bollard::errors::Error),
 }
 
@@ -50,13 +51,13 @@ pub struct Cmd {
 
 impl Cmd {
     pub async fn run(&self) -> Result<(), Error> {
-        println!("Starting {} network", &self.network);
+        println!("ℹ️  Starting {} network", &self.network);
         run_docker_command(self).await
     }
 }
 
 async fn run_docker_command(cmd: &Cmd) -> Result<(), Error> {
-    let docker = connect_to_docker(&cmd.docker_socket_path)?;
+    let docker = connect_to_docker(&cmd.docker_socket_path).await?;
 
     let image = get_image_name(cmd);
     docker
@@ -91,20 +92,34 @@ async fn run_docker_command(cmd: &Cmd) -> Result<(), Error> {
     let create_container_response = docker
         .create_container(
             Some(CreateContainerOptions {
-                name: container_name,
+                name: container_name.clone(),
                 ..Default::default()
             }),
             config,
         )
-        .await
-        .unwrap();
+        .await?;
+
     docker
         .start_container(
             &create_container_response.id,
             None::<StartContainerOptions<String>>,
         )
-        .await
-        .map_err(Error::StartContainerError)
+        .await?;
+    println!("✅ Container started: {container_name}");
+    let stop_message = format!(
+        "ℹ️  To stop this container run: soroban network stop {network} {additional_flags}",
+        network = &cmd.network,
+        additional_flags = if cmd.docker_socket_path.is_some() {
+            format!(
+                "--docker-socket-path {}",
+                cmd.docker_socket_path.as_ref().unwrap()
+            )
+        } else {
+            String::new()
+        }
+    );
+    println!("{stop_message}");
+    Ok(())
 }
 
 fn get_container_args(cmd: &Cmd) -> Vec<String> {
diff --git a/cmd/soroban-cli/src/commands/network/stop.rs b/cmd/soroban-cli/src/commands/network/stop.rs
index 934b072c2e..1e1baeab0e 100644
--- a/cmd/soroban-cli/src/commands/network/stop.rs
+++ b/cmd/soroban-cli/src/commands/network/stop.rs
@@ -20,10 +20,10 @@ pub struct Cmd {
 impl Cmd {
     pub async fn run(&self) -> Result<(), Error> {
         let container_name = format!("stellar-{}", self.network);
-        let docker = connect_to_docker(&self.docker_socket_path)?;
-        println!("Stopping container: {container_name}");
+        let docker = connect_to_docker(&self.docker_socket_path).await?;
+        println!("ℹ️  Stopping container: {container_name}");
         docker.stop_container(&container_name, None).await.unwrap();
-
+        println!("✅ Container stopped: {container_name}");
         Ok(())
     }
 }