diff --git a/ci_tests/run_basic_grb_test.sh b/ci_tests/run_basic_grb_test.sh
index 43be3f35578fe7a95d7c44c91646a7f86b511c1c..ba25cee57c6ab8e56e05969073622354a293cc32 100755
--- a/ci_tests/run_basic_grb_test.sh
+++ b/ci_tests/run_basic_grb_test.sh
@@ -27,6 +27,11 @@ get_pod_name() {
     kubectl -n $ns get pods --selector=app.kubernetes.io/instance=${release_name} -o name
 }
 
+wait_for_pod() {
+    pod_name="$1"
+    kubectl -n $ns wait --for=condition=Ready ${pod_name} --timeout=60s
+}
+
 run_grb_checks() {
     count=0
     while true; do
@@ -73,5 +78,7 @@ debug "GRB pod name: ${GRB_POD_NAME}"
 GEO2GRID_POD_NAME=$(get_pod_name "${GEO2GRID_RELEASE_NAME}")
 debug "Geo2Grid pod name: ${GEO2GRID_POD_NAME}"
 
+wait_for_pod ${GRB_POD_NAME} || error "GRB pod was never ready"
 run_grb_checks || error "GRB checks failed"
+wait_for_pod ${GEO2GRID_POD_NAME} || error "Geo2Grid pod was never ready"
 run_geo2grid_checks || error "Geo2Grid checks failed"
diff --git a/ci_tests/values-geosphere-rabbit.yaml b/ci_tests/values-geosphere-rabbit.yaml
index 98bf879e2a939998e0832f3a8a1eb66fad6e18b5..65d1a3d1d0a4447624597358b6cff3d35d6fc769 100644
--- a/ci_tests/values-geosphere-rabbit.yaml
+++ b/ci_tests/values-geosphere-rabbit.yaml
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 # persisting the secret only causes issues for failed tests
 persistence:
   enabled: false
+rbacEnabled: false
\ No newline at end of file