diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk/bin/cdk.ts b/packages/aws-cdk/bin/cdk.ts
index 0b615b379d4f1..016a0855494be 100644
--- a/packages/aws-cdk/bin/cdk.ts
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk/bin/cdk.ts
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ async function parseCommandLineArguments() {
       .option('build-exclude', { type: 'array', alias: 'E', nargs: 1, desc: 'Do not rebuild asset with the given ID. Can be specified multiple times.', default: [] })
       .option('exclusively', { type: 'boolean', alias: 'e', desc: 'Only deploy requested stacks, don\'t include dependencies' })
       .option('require-approval', { type: 'string', choices: [RequireApproval.Never, RequireApproval.AnyChange, RequireApproval.Broadening], desc: 'What security-sensitive changes need manual approval' })
-      .option('ci', { type: 'boolean', desc: 'Force CI detection (deprecated)', default: process.env.CI !== undefined })
+      .option('ci', { type: 'boolean', desc: 'Force CI detection', default: process.env.CI !== undefined })
       .option('notification-arns', { type: 'array', desc: 'ARNs of SNS topics that CloudFormation will notify with stack related events', nargs: 1, requiresArg: true })
       .option('tags', { type: 'array', alias: 't', desc: 'Tags to add to the stack (KEY=VALUE)', nargs: 1, requiresArg: true })
       .option('execute', { type: 'boolean', desc: 'Whether to execute ChangeSet (--no-execute will NOT execute the ChangeSet)', default: true })
@@ -279,6 +279,7 @@ async function initCommandLine() {
           parameters: parameterMap,
           usePreviousParameters: args['previous-parameters'],
           outputsFile: args.outputsFile,
+          ci: args.ci,
         });
 
       case 'destroy':
diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/api/cloudformation-deployments.ts b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/api/cloudformation-deployments.ts
index 0ee09812629c9..dac91e4b9e5e6 100644
--- a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/api/cloudformation-deployments.ts
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/api/cloudformation-deployments.ts
@@ -88,6 +88,13 @@ export interface DeployStackOptions {
    * @default true
    */
   usePreviousParameters?: boolean;
+
+  /**
+   * Whether we are on a CI system
+   *
+   * @default false
+   */
+  readonly ci?: boolean;
 }
 
 export interface DestroyStackOptions {
@@ -156,6 +163,7 @@ export class CloudFormationDeployments {
       force: options.force,
       parameters: options.parameters,
       usePreviousParameters: options.usePreviousParameters,
+      ci: options.ci,
     });
   }
 
diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/api/deploy-stack.ts b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/api/deploy-stack.ts
index f2f2c267fc586..454ff8452b566 100644
--- a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/api/deploy-stack.ts
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/api/deploy-stack.ts
@@ -158,6 +158,13 @@ export interface DeployStackOptions {
    * @default false
    */
   force?: boolean;
+
+  /**
+   * Whether we are on a CI system
+   *
+   * @default false
+   */
+  readonly ci?: boolean;
 }
 
 const LARGE_TEMPLATE_SIZE_KB = 50;
diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/api/util/cloudformation/stack-activity-monitor.ts b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/api/util/cloudformation/stack-activity-monitor.ts
index af192ec162e49..9f4c1415a4989 100644
--- a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/api/util/cloudformation/stack-activity-monitor.ts
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/api/util/cloudformation/stack-activity-monitor.ts
@@ -35,6 +35,15 @@ export interface StackActivityMonitorProps {
    * @default - Use value from logging.logLevel
    */
   readonly logLevel?: LogLevel;
+
+  /**
+   * Whether we are on a CI system
+   *
+   * If so, disable the "optimized" stack monitor.
+   *
+   * @default false
+   */
+  readonly ci?: boolean;
 }
 
 export class StackActivityMonitor {
@@ -79,7 +88,10 @@ export class StackActivityMonitor {
 
     const isWindows = process.platform === 'win32';
     const verbose = options.logLevel ?? logLevel;
-    const fancyOutputAvailable = !isWindows && stream.isTTY;
+    // On some CI systems (such as CircleCI) output still reports as a TTY so we also
+    // need an individual check for whether we're running on CI.
+    // see: https://discuss.circleci.com/t/circleci-terminal-is-a-tty-but-term-is-not-set/9965
+    const fancyOutputAvailable = !isWindows && stream.isTTY && !options.ci;
 
     this.printer = fancyOutputAvailable && !verbose
       ? new CurrentActivityPrinter(props)
diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/cdk-toolkit.ts b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/cdk-toolkit.ts
index e9da7e14eea15..3aec3c4eeef18 100644
--- a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/cdk-toolkit.ts
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/cdk-toolkit.ts
@@ -190,6 +190,7 @@ export class CdkToolkit {
           force: options.force,
           parameters: Object.assign({}, parameterMap['*'], parameterMap[stack.stackName]),
           usePreviousParameters: options.usePreviousParameters,
+          ci: options.ci,
         });
 
         const message = result.noOp
@@ -583,6 +584,13 @@ export interface DeployOptions {
    * @default - Outputs are not written to any file
    */
   outputsFile?: string;
+
+  /**
+   * Whether we are on a CI system
+   *
+   * @default false
+   */
+  readonly ci?: boolean;
 }
 
 export interface DestroyOptions {