diff --git a/syncoid b/syncoid
index 1ef1506..73205ce 100755
--- a/syncoid
+++ b/syncoid
@@ -233,6 +233,10 @@ sub syncdataset {
 		if (!defined $args{'no-sync-snap'}) {
 			# create a new syncoid snapshot on the source filesystem.
 			$newsyncsnap = newsyncsnap($sourcehost,$sourcefs,$sourceisroot);
+			if (!$newsyncsnap) {
+				# we already whined about the error
+				return 0;
+			}
 		} else {
 			# we don't want sync snapshots created, so use the newest snapshot we can find.
 			$newsyncsnap = getnewestsnapshot($sourcehost,$sourcefs,$sourceisroot);
@@ -267,6 +271,11 @@ sub syncdataset {
 		}
 		my $oldestsnap = getoldestsnapshot(\%snaps);
 		if (! $oldestsnap) {
+			if (defined ($args{'no-sync-snap'}) ) {
+				# we already whined about the missing snapshots
+				return 0;
+			}
+
 			# getoldestsnapshot() returned false, so use new sync snapshot
 			if ($debug) { print "DEBUG: getoldestsnapshot() returned false, so using $newsyncsnap.\n"; }
 			$oldestsnap = $newsyncsnap;
@@ -752,7 +761,7 @@ sub getoldestsnapshot {
 	# must not have had any snapshots on source - luckily, we already made one, amirite?
 	if (defined ($args{'no-sync-snap'}) ) {
 		# well, actually we set --no-sync-snap, so no we *didn't* already make one. Whoops.
-		die "CRIT: --no-sync-snap is set, and getoldestsnapshot() could not find any snapshots on source!\n";
+		warn "CRIT: --no-sync-snap is set, and getoldestsnapshot() could not find any snapshots on source!\n";
 	}
 	return 0;
 }
@@ -774,6 +783,7 @@ sub getnewestsnapshot {
 		#        we also probably need an argument to mute this WARN, for people who deliberately exclude
 		#        datasets from recursive replication this way.
 		warn "WARN: --no-sync-snap is set, and getnewestsnapshot() could not find any snapshots on source for current dataset. Continuing.\n";
+		if ($exitcode < 2) { $exitcode = 2; }
 	}
 	return 0;
 }
@@ -961,8 +971,12 @@ sub newsyncsnap {
 	my %date = getdate();
 	my $snapname = "syncoid\_$identifier$hostid\_$date{'stamp'}";
 	my $snapcmd = "$rhost $mysudocmd $zfscmd snapshot $fsescaped\@$snapname\n";
-	system($snapcmd) == 0
-		or die "CRITICAL ERROR: $snapcmd failed: $?";
+	system($snapcmd) == 0 or do {
+		warn "CRITICAL ERROR: $snapcmd failed: $?";
+		if ($exitcode < 2) { $exitcode = 2; }
+		return 0;
+	};
+
 	return $snapname;
 }