diff --git a/builder/amazon/common/ssh.go b/builder/amazon/common/ssh.go
index 5e7d8872d..458a7226e 100644
--- a/builder/amazon/common/ssh.go
+++ b/builder/amazon/common/ssh.go
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/mitchellh/multistep"
 	"github.com/mitchellh/packer/communicator/ssh"
 	"time"
+	"log"
 )
 
 // SSHAddress returns a function that can be given to the SSH communicator
@@ -20,7 +21,14 @@ func SSHAddress(e *ec2.EC2, port int) func(multistep.StateBag) (string, error) {
 			if i.DNSName != "" {
 				host = i.DNSName
 			} else if i.VpcId != "" {
-				host = i.PrivateIpAddress
+				log.Printf("public ip from SSHAddress: %s", i.PublicIpAddress)
+				if i.PublicIpAddress != "" {
+					log.Printf("using public ip in SSHAddress")
+					host = i.PublicIpAddress
+				} else {
+					log.Printf("using private ip in SSHAddress")
+					host = i.PrivateIpAddress
+				}
 			}
 
 			if host != "" {
diff --git a/builder/amazon/common/step_run_source_instance.go b/builder/amazon/common/step_run_source_instance.go
index a122318c4..87110130b 100644
--- a/builder/amazon/common/step_run_source_instance.go
+++ b/builder/amazon/common/step_run_source_instance.go
@@ -110,6 +110,7 @@ func (s *StepRunSourceInstance) Run(state multistep.StateBag) multistep.StepActi
 	}
 
 	s.instance = latestInstance.(*ec2.Instance)
+	log.Printf("Public IP: %s", s.instance.PublicIpAddress)
 
 	if s.Debug {
 		if s.instance.DNSName != "" {