fohdeesha thanks for the information, I've added the following to my cloud-init template:

runcmd:
  # disable dhcp for eth0
  - [ sh, -c, sed -e '/iface eth0 inet dhcp/s/^/#/g' -i /etc/network/interfaces ]

at the end of the installation I have a reboot of the machine anyway so I don't restart the network in between:

power_state:
 delay: "+2" # minutes
 mode: reboot
 message: rebooting system after cloud-init configurations are finished
 timeout: 120 # seconds

cheers and keep up the good work!
Ringo

Thanks guys! Absolut Legends

julien-f that also fixed my issue, cheers!

great job guys on a saturday! I am just updating my xo but your response times are great, keep up the good work!