We are booked on the Prima this summer whose itinerary includes a few small ports in both Norway and Iceland. I was on the phone with the excursion people, and after finding out that an excursion that DW was interested in (but we can probably do for less money anyway privately) was sold out, asked what if any of the ports was a tender port. The immediate answer was only Geiranger.
I have been in contact with a local tour operator in Isafjordur, Iceland, and one of my questions was where do you meet the tour. I was told at the dock where the tenders come in. Now this seems to contradict what I was told on the phone by NCL.
So, as always, google is your friend. I found that smaller ships do not need to tender, but larger ships do. Now the Prima is not Epic sized, but still 3000+ is not a smaller ship. My take from this is that it will need tenders.